CAIRO: Egypt’s first legislature in more than three years, a 596-seat chamber packed with supporters of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, held its inaugural session on Sunday, signaling the completion of a political road map first announced in 2013.
The assembly, elected in November and December, is the first elected chamber since El-Sisi took over in 2013.
The new chamber’s first task will be to ratify some 300 presidential decrees issued by El-Sisi since taking office in June 2014 and interim President Adly Mansour before him. Under the constitution, these decrees must be ratified within 15 days starting from the date of the inaugural session. Failure to do so will result in the automatic repeal of these laws.
Sunday’s session was mostly a procedural one, with lawmakers taking the oath in turn. The chamber is also expected to elect a speaker and two deputies. Some of the lawmakers, in a show of patriotism, held red, black and white Egyptian flags as they took the oath.
Turnout for last year’s parliamentary elections was around 30 percent, and most of those elected to the assembly support the president.
Egypt is grappling with an increasingly potent insurgency and its economy is barely staying afloat, with its local currency under pressure, tourism battered from years of turmoil and inflation at nearly 11 percent.
1st Egypt Parliament in 3 years convenes
1st Egypt Parliament in 3 years convenes
