the committee during that period is an implicit decision of rejection. The applicant must appeal the decision before the Supreme Civil Court of Appeal within three days from the date of issuing the decision. The Court shall decide on the appeal within seven days from the date of commencing the proceedings; its judgment is final with no possibility of appeal. 8. On the other hand, the law grants the candidate the right to withdraw his/her candidacy in accordance with Article (15) of Decree-Law No. (15) of 2002 on the House of Representatives and the Shura Council and its amendments. This measure ensures the right of individuals to exercise freely the right of political participation, as well as the right to run for municipal councils, as stipulated in Article (17) of Decree-Law No. (3) of 2002 on the system of election of members of municipal councils, as amended. The law also grants the candidate the right to receive the electoral lists of the candidate’s constituency, as well as the right to choose an agent, on condition that such agent is registered in the electoral list of the candidate’s constituency. 9. In implementation of the law, and to ensure that citizens enjoy their right to candidacy, the NIHR has monitored and followed up the efforts of the Supreme Committee for the General Supervision of the Soundness of Elections, through various media and social media, which facilitate and ease the electoral process in both branches, parliamentary and municipal. Regarding receiving the candidacy applications in such a way that guarantees citizens to exercise their rights effectively and in conformity with the relevant international standards and obligations, starting with reviewing the regulatory legislation and the guidance and outreach instructions, determining the procedures and requirements to be followed, determining the dates, times, and places to proceed with these procedures, receiving requests for correction and objections to the lists, following up periodically all the requirements of this stage, informing the public in due course, as well as issuing a guide that aims at sensitizing the candidates to all their rights, and briefing them, their agents, and their campaign leaders of the legal rules and controls of the electoral process. 10. In practice, during nomination stage, the NIHR has observed the announcement of the Executive Director of the 2018 elections, on opening the nomination of candidates, which began on 17 October 2018 and ended on the 21 October 2018; identifying places of submitting applications, which are distributed among the four governorates of the Kingdom. The total number of applications for candidacy in the parliamentary and municipal elections reached (506) applications, of which (346) applications were submitted for the membership of the House of Representatives and (160) applications were submitted for the membership of the municipal councils. Subsequently, 37