The new Egyptian parliament kicked off its opening session on Tuesday within the second legislative term, scheduled to extend until 2026.
The 568 elected lawmakers plus 28 presidential appointees took the constitutional oath in two phases. The first included individual MPs at the republic level, while the second phase included the listed and appointed MPs.
The deputies elected Dr. Hanafy El Gebali as the new parliament speaker.
Gebali, 72, served as the former head of Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court and won 508 votes during the session.
President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has recently appointed the 28 deputies, in line with his constitutional powers.
Farida El Shobashy, the oldest MP, chaired Tuesday’s session and was the first woman to head a parliament session.
Egypt’s Mostaqbal Watan (Nation’s Future) Party, which strongly backs Sisi, secured nearly 55 percent of the contested seats in a parliamentary election, official results showed.
Lists headed by the party won all 284 seats allocated for pre-selected lists under a winner-takes-all system. Nation’s Future got 145 of these seats, according to election commission statements.
The party also won 170 of the 284 seats contested by individual candidates.
Another pro-Sisi party, the Republican People’s party, won 50 seats and non-affiliated candidates won 93 seats.
The new parliament will hold its second procedural session on Wednesday, during which lists of the specialized committees will be announced. It will also open the door for deputies to submit suggestions and objections.
It will continue to hold procedural sessions on Thursday, during which the final lists of specialized committees will be announced after reviewing the suggestions and objections.
