CAIRO, Jan 19 (Aswat Masriya) - Media outlets may apply for covering the coming parliamentary elections starting Wednesday and until February 1, the Supreme Elections Commission (SEC) announced on Monday.

Journalists will need to register online from February 5-16 and permits will be delivered from February 26 to March 12, said SEC spokesman Medhat Idris in a statement.

The SEC opened the door for civil society to apply for monitoring the elections on January 12 and until January 20.  It has also put forth regulations on campaign advertisement and financing.

The first phase of the elections will be held on March 21-22 for Egyptian expatriates and March 22-23 for locals. The second phase is to be held on April 25-26 for expatriates and April 26-27 for locals.

Egypt has been without a lower house of parliament since June 2012 after the lower house was dissolved by the Supreme Constitutional Court.

The parliamentary elections are considered the last step in the political roadmap that was announced by the military after the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July 2013 following mass protests against his rule.