The Egyptian cabinet has approved changes to two election laws that are required to enable to country to hold parliamentary elections.

The approvals were granted on 15 April, although the amendments are subject to a further review.

Egypt has been without an elected parliament since 2012.

The amendments relate to how Egypt’s lower house, the House of Representatives, functions, as well as the division of electoral constituencies.

According to local press reports, the changes will include increasing the number of seats in parliament.

The amendments are meant to help meet an earlier ruling by the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) that each independent constituency should have roughly the same number of voters, with the difference not exceeding 25 per cent.

Further amendments to the laws will allow Egyptians with dual nationality to run for parliament although it will also bar those who avoid military service from running for parliament.

Egypt’s parliamentary elections were meant to be held in mid-March, but were postponed following a ruling by the SCC that the drafted laws were “unconstitutional”.

Once the changes are finalised a new schedule for the parliamentary elections will have to be put in place.