London, Dec. 27, 2020 (AltAfrica)-As parliamentary membership cards are currently being distributed among the 568 newly-elected MPs ahead of the opening session of the new House of Representatives, three parliamentarians lost their lives owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hassan Eid, a Mostaqbal Watan Party individual candidate who won the Suez seat on 8 December, died on Friday, one day following the death of his wife from the virus.

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Eid, a former assistant to the minister of interior, and his wife had been taken to an intensive care unit in one of Cairo’s private hospitals last week.

Egypt’s National Election Authority (NEA) is expected to hold a by-election in Suez city to elect a new MP.

Fawzi Fata died from the coronavirus on 4 December. Fata, a member of the outgoing parliament, died a few days after he had won the seat of the constituency of Aga in the Nile Delta governorate of Daqahliya.

Fata was a party list candidate representing the National List coalition and will be replaced by his daughter Aya who was nominated as his “reserve candidate.”

According to NEA rules, by-elections are held only when individual MPs die or lose membership. Party list MPs who die or lose membership will be automatically replaced by “reserve candidates.”

Gamal Haggag, an individual candidate of the Republican People’s Party, died on 28 November, a few days after he had won the seat of the constituency of the city of Benha, the capital of the Nile Delta governorate of Qalioubiya.

Haggag, who was the director of Benha’s Social Insurance Authority, passed away where he was being treated at a private hospital. The NEA is expected to hold a new by-election in Benha to elect a replacement.

Ahramonline reports that since 2015, 17 Egyptian MPs have died due to coronavirus or other reasons, according to official statistics.

Egypt’s two-stage parliamentary elections were held between 24 October and 8 December to fill 568 seats.

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi is expected to issue two presidential decrees soon to name 28 appointees to the new House and to set the date of the first opening session.