House of Representatives (Egypt)

House of Representatives
مجلس النواب
Maǧlis an-Nowwab
Coat of arms or logo
Type
Type
Leadership
Ali Abdel Aal, Independent
(Support Egypt)
Since 10 January 2016
Deputy Speaker
Mahmoud El Sherif, Independent
(Support Egypt)
Since 11 January 2016
Deputy Speaker
Suleiman Wahdan, New Wafd Party
Since 11 January 2016
Structure
Seats 596[1]
Political groups
  Free Egyptians Party: 65 seats
  Nation's Future Party: 53 seats
  New Wafd Party: 36 seats
  Homeland Defenders Party: 18 seats
  Conference Party: 12 seats
  al-Nour Party: 11 seats
  Conservative Party: 6 seats
  Modern Egypt Party: 4 seats
  Freedom Party: 3 seats
  Free Egyptian Building Party: 1 seat
  Independents: 351 seats
Elections
Last election
2 December 2015
Meeting place
People's Assembly chamber of the Egyptian Parliament building, Cairo, Egypt
Website
http://www.parliament.gov.eg
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
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The House of Representatives (Arabic: مجلس النواب, Maǧlis an-Nowwab) is the unicameral parliament of Egypt.

On 14 June 2012, the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt ruled that part of the parliamentary election had been invalid and ordered a new ballot, citing alleged problems in the election of members.[2] Based on this ruling, the SCAF military council declared the lower house of parliament dissolved. However, newly elected president Mohammed Mursi decreed that he was setting aside the decision of the military and ordered the legislature to reconvene on 8 July.[3] On 10 July 2012, the Supreme Constitutional Court voided the President's decision to call the nation's parliament back into session.[4] The Supreme Administrative Court ruled on 22 September 2012 in favor of the earlier ruling of the Supreme Constitutional Court to dissolve the People's Assembly.[5]

Formation of the Assembly

The 2014 constitution that was passed in the 2014 constitutional referendum[6] has put into place the following rules: the House that is elected following the ratification of the constitution must have at least 450 members.[7] In addition, prospective members must be Egyptian, must be at least 25 years old and must hold an education certificate.[7] Also, the president can appoint, at the most, five percent of the members in the chamber.[7]

The House sits for a five-year term but can be dissolved earlier by the president. All seats are voted on in each election. The House of Representatives members are elected by absolute majority of legitimate votes cast.

The People's Assembly may demand the resignation of the cabinet by adopting a motion of censure. For this reason, the Prime Minister of Egypt and his cabinet are necessarily from the dominant party or coalition in the House. When the president and house come from opposing parties (a situation which did arise historically, but not since the 1970s), this would lead to the situation known as cohabitation.

Powers

The House of Representatives has various competences stated in Chapter Five of the Constitution. According to article 86 the House of Representatives shall undertake:

In practice, the People's Assembly had very little power prior to the 2011 Egyptian revolution. It was dominated by the National Democratic Party, and there was little substantive opposition to executive decisions.

House of Representatives organization

Speaker of the House

The House of Representatives Speaker (HR Speaker) presides over the House and is elected from the House membership, along with two deputies during the first session of the season. The Speaker's role in session is to keep the peace and order to the parliamentary session, take part in discussion provided that he gives up his presidency to one of his deputies and doesn't return to his presidency until the discussion is finished as well as ordering an emergency session for one of the House' committees. In case of vacancy in the President's office, the Speaker serves as acting president until the presidential elections are held (Which must be within 60 days). This has happened once, when president Anwar Sadat was assassinated in office, and then People's Assembly Speaker, Sufi Abu Taleb served as acting president. The last PA Speaker was Saad Al Katatny, who briefly presided the Assembly for only 5 months from 23 January 2012 to the dissolution of parliament on 18 June 2012.

Speaker's Staff Office

The Staff is responsible for organization of the house' and its committees' agendas, the enforcement of the House' orders and is the link between the House and different agencies, ministries and other authorities. The staff consists of the HR speaker and his two deputies.

House' General Committee

This committee is formed in the beginning of the House' annual season, headed by the Speaker. Its membership includes the Deputy Speakers, representatives of the political parties' parliamentary committees, and five House members (of whom one is an independent, if there are more than ten independents). The Speaker is responsible for outlining the committee's agenda. The committee is responsible for discussing the general issues put forward by the president, the prime minister or the speaker.

Specialized Committees

These 19 committees are:

Ethics Committee

This committee is formed in the beginning of the House' annual season, headed by one of the HR speaker deputies. The membership includes the heads of the following committees: Constitutional Affairs and Legislation; Religious, Social and Awkaf Affairs; and Suggestions and Grievances; five members of the General Committee (of whom at least two are from the opposition parties); and five members chosen randomly from the House. This committee is responsible for looking into the violations committed by House members towards the Egyptian society's code of behavior towards religion, social standards, etc.

Ad hoc & Combined Committees

The ad hoc committees are formed by the suggestion of the Speaker or the request of the government to study, debate on a new bill or law, voting on the ratification of a new law or bill or a special issue of concern. The Speaker is responsible on choosing members for this committee. The Combined committees are formed by the request of the Speaker, the government, members of two or more of the specialized committees, with the aim of studying a particular issue of concern. These combined committees are headed by one of the Speaker's deputies. The orders of these committees are issued when a majority vote is achieved.

Parliamentary Chapter

The Egyptian House of Representatives is the Egyptian representative of the international parliamentary conventions. This chapter aims at developing of mutual relations with international parliaments. The General Assembly of this chapter consists of the entire membership of the House, and headed by the Speaker. The Executive committee of this chapter of the Speaker staff office, three members chosen from the Assembly membership of whom at least one is a member of the opposition parties. The Assembly meets in its chapter form every January. Emergency sessions are held by the request of the executive committee to look into any of additionally outlined issues of concern.

http://www.masrawy.com/News/2005/Egypt/Politics/october/31/assembly1.aspx

Elections

2015

 Summary of the 2015 election for House of Representatives (Egypt)
Party Ideology Votes Vote % FPTP Seats List Seats Total Seats Component Parties
Free Egyptians Party Liberal 57 8 65
Al-Nour Party Islamist - Salafi 11 0 11
New Wafd Party National liberal 27 8 36 1 appointed member
Nation's Future Party N/A 43 10 53
Republican People's Party N/A 13 0 13
Free Egyptian Building Party N/A 1 0 1
Freedom Party N/A 3 0 3
Homeland Defenders Party N/A 10 8 18
Conference Party N/A 8 4 12
Conservative Party N/A 1 5 6
Democratic Peace Party N/A 5 0 5
Egyptian Social Democratic Party Social Democrats 4 0 4
Egyptian National Movement Party N/A 4 0 4
Nasserist Party Nasserist 1 0 1
Modern Egypt Party pro-Sisi 4 0 4
Reform and Development Party pro-Sisi 3 0 3
My Homeland Egypt Party pro-Sisi 3 0 3
National Progressive Unionist Party pro-Sisi 1 0 2 1 appointed member
Revolutionary Guards Party pro-Sisi 3 0 3
Independents Independents - - 251 74 351 28 Appointed members
Total elected elected MPs 0 100.00 0 0 0
Appointees non-elected MPs - - - - 0
Total MPs - - - - 0

2011

 Summary of the 2011 election for People's Assembly of Egypt
Party Ideology Votes Vote % PR Seats FPTP Seats Total Seats Component Parties
Democratic Alliance for Egypt
(led by the Freedom and Justice Party)
Nationalist[8] 10,138,134 37.5 127 108 235 Freedom & Justice Party: 213
Dignity Party: 6
Ghad El-Thawra Party: 2
Civilization Party: 2
Islamic Labour Party: 1
Egyptian Arab Socialist Party: 1
Egyptian Reform Party: 1
Affiliated Independents 9
Islamist Bloc
(led by Al-Nour Party)
Islamist - Salafi 7,534,266 27.8 96 25[9][10]
or 27[11]
121[9][10]
or 123[11]
Al-Nour Party: 107
Building & Development Party: 13
Authenticity Party: 3
New Wafd Party National liberal 2,480,391 9.2 37 4 41
Egyptian Bloc Social liberal 2,402,238 8.9 33 2[9]
or 1[11]
35[9]
or 34[11]
Social Democratic Party: 16
Free Egyptians Party: 15
Progressive Unionist Party: 4
Al-Wasat Party Moderate Islamist 989,003 3.7 10 0 10
The Revolution Continues Alliance Leftist 745,863 2.8 7 2 9 Socialist Popular Alliance Party: 7
Freedom Egypt Party: 1
Equality & Development Party: 1
Reform and Development Party Liberal 604,415 2.2 8 1 9
Freedom Party NDP offshoot 514,029 1.9 4 0 4
National Party of Egypt NDP offshoot 425,021 1.6 4 1 5
Egyptian Citizen Party NDP offshoot 235,395 0.9 3 1 4
Union Party NDP offshoot 141,382 0.5 2 0 2
Conservative Party NDP offshoot 272,910 1.0 0 1 1
Democratic Peace Party NDP offshoot[12][9] 248,281 0.9 1 0 1
Justice Party Center 184,553 0.7 0 1 1
Arab Egyptian Unity Party NDP offshoot 149,253 0.6 1 0 1
Nasserist Party Nasserist 1 0 1
Independents Independents - - - 21[11] 21[11]
Total elected elected MPs 27,065,135 100.00 332 166 498
SCAF appointees non-elected MPs - - - - 10
Total MPs - - - - 508

Sources:Ahram Online,[9] Al-Masry Al-Youm,[10] Al-Ahram[11][13]

2010

 Summary of the 2010 People's Assembly of Egypt election results
Parties Votes % 2010 Seats 2005 Seats Net Change Seats
%
National Democratic Party (Al'Hizb Al Watani Al Democrati)   420 330 Increase90 81.0%
Independents (NDP)[14]   53 0 Increase53 10.2%
New Wafd Party (Hizb al-Wafd-al-Jadid)   6 5 Increase1 1.1%
Progressive National Unionist Party (Hizb al Tagammo' al Watani al Taqadommi al Wahdawi)   5 1 Increase4 0.9%
Tomorrow Party (Hizb al-Ghad)   1 1 Steady0 0.2%
Arab Democratic Nasserist Party or Nasserist Party   0 0 Steady0 0.0%
Liberal Party (Hizb al-Ahrar)   0 0 Steady0 0.0%
Social Justice Party (Hizb Al-'Adala al- Ijtima'iyya)   1 - Increase1 0.2%
Democratic Generation Party (Hizb El-Geel al-Democrati)   1 - Increase1 0.2%
Democratic Peace Party (Hizb El-Salaam al-Democrati)   1 - Increase1 0.2%
Independents (Muslim Brotherhood - al-ikhwān al-muslimūn)   1 88 Decrease−87 0.2%
Independents (other)   15 19 Decrease4
Still in contest   4
Unelected members 10 0 0 1.9%
Total (turnout %)   518

See also

References

  1. "President Mansour signs into law parliamentary elections legislation". Ahram Online. 5 June 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  2. "Blow to Transition as Court Dissolves Egypt’s Parliament". New York Times. 14 June 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  3. "Egypt's Morsi orders parliament to reconvene". Al Jazeera English. 9 July 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  4. Watson, Ivan. "Court overrules Egypt's president on parliament". CNN. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  5. "Egypt Islamists slam parliament's death knell,liberals celebrate". Ahram Online. 23 September 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  6. "Egyptians overwhelmingly back constitution - official results". Aswat Masriya. 18 January 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 "Egypt's new constitution to be passed to president on Tuesday, opening the way for presidential elections first". Ahram Online. 2 December 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  8. "Egypt after the Revolt. Emboldened Muslim Brotherhood May Emerge from Egypt's Spring Power Transition". Thecuttingedgenews.com. 27 June 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Essam El-Din, Gamal (23 Jan 2012). "Egypt's post-Mubarak legislative life begins amid tension and divisions". Ahram Online. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  10. 1 2 3 السنهوري, محمد (21 January 2012). "«العليا» تعلن نتائج قوائم «الشعب».. الحرية والعدالة 127 مقعدًا والنور 96 و«الكتلة» 33". Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ممدوح شعبان وسعاد طنطاوي وعلي محمد علي. "النتائج النهائية لانتخابات مجلس الشعب". al-ahram.
  12. El-Din, Gamal Essam (22–28 December 2011), "Islamists consolidate their lead", Al-Ahram Weekly, retrieved 6 June 2014
  13. "Who are the non-Islamists in Egypt's parliament?". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 31 January 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  14. http://www.almesryoon.com/news.aspx?id=45332

External links

Coordinates: 30°02′24″N 31°14′12″E / 30.04007°N 31.23658°E / 30.04007; 31.23658

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