Archive for Parliament members

Parliament dissolution could postpone election, says Ghonim

by admin
June 14th, 2012

The deputy head of the State Council said in a phone conversation with Wael Ghonim that the Supreme Constitutional Court’s ruling dissolving Parliament would delay the presidential election, because candidates must have signatures of endorsement from Parliament members, Ghonim said Thursday on Twitter.

“Now the stage of strategic experts is over and a new era of constitutional experts started. We will have a lot of opinions and counter-opinions,” Ghonim wrote.

The law on candidacy for presidential elections stipulates that candidates must have endorsement signatures from either 30 MPs or 30,000 Egyptians in order to be eligible for the presidency.

Former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq and the Muslim Brotherhood's presidential candidate, Mohamed Morsy, will compete in the runoff on 16 and 17 of June.

The incoming president will swear his oath of office before the legislative authority, an authority that would be assumed by the military council in the absence of the Parliament. The incoming president will therefore make a pledge to the defense minister, when it should be the other way around, Ghonim wrote.

Ghonim was the administrator of the Arabic-language Facebook page We Are All Khaled Saeed. Saeed’s death at the hands of police officers in 2010 was one of the triggers for the demonstrations that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak during the 25 January revolution.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Tags: , , , , ,
Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
Comments (0)

MPs urged to stage sit-in for political isolation enforcement

by admin
June 12th, 2012

Thirty public figures have urged Parliament members and former presidential candidates to stage a sit-in inside Parliament demanding the enforcement of the Political Isolation Law, which would prevent former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq from competing in the presidential runoff on 16 and 17 June.

The demand was voiced in a statement signed by authors Alaa Al Aswany and Sonallah Ibrahim, poets Ahmed Fouad Negm, Abdel Rahman Yusuf and Tamim al-Barghouti, and other activists.

The statement called on the Muslim Brotherhood’s presidential candidate Mohamed Morsy as well as former candidates Hamdeen Sabbahi and Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh to participate in the sit-in.

The amendment to the Political Rights Law, popularly known as the Political Isolation Law, which was approved by Parliament and the ruling military council, would bar anyone who served as former President Mubarak’s prime minister or vice president during the 10-year period prior to his resignation on 11 February 2011 from exercising political rights, including running for office. The law would also apply to those who held high-ranking positions in Mubarak’s now-dissolved National Democratic Party.

The Presidential Elections Commission disqualified Shafiq from the race when the military council approved the amendment in April, but immediately accepted his appeal against the decision and reinstated him. The elections commission also referred the amendment to the Supreme Constitutional Court, which is set to consider it on 14 June, two days before the start of the runoff.

The statement said that political forces from across the spectrum have agreed on the necessity to continue popular mobilization to press for the application of the law and Shafiq’s exclusion from the race.

Dozens of activists are also participating in a hunger strike outside the Cabinet building demanding the application of the Political Isolation Law.

Edited translation from MENA

Tags: , , ,
Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
Comments (0)

SCAF, political parties agree on timeline, oversight of consituent assembly

by admin
April 28th, 2012

The Supreme Council of Armed forces said on Saturday that the process of writing the constitution should finish before the run-offs of the presidential elections, and specified the numbers of non-Parliament members that will participate in writing it.

During the meeting, SCAF and political leaders also agreed on forming a committee comprised of representatives from the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, the Salafi Nour Party, the Wafd Party, the revolutionary Block Party and Tomorrow Revolution Party and other independent politicians that will follow-up with the Constituent Assembly's decisions.

In six points, published on the state-run Al-Ahram website, SCAF also announced how the Constiuent Assembly, which will draft the country's new constitution, will re-vote if they do not reach a consensus on the first time.

The military council said that during the meeting with representatives from 20 political parties  and some Parliament members, all parties had agreed on ratios of representation that comply with the Administrative Court’s ruling on the representative ratios from the Parliament and Shura Council.

In reference to the constituent members that will represent political bodies and other organizations, according to the SCAF announcment there will be four from Al-Azhar, six from Egyptian Churches, including Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical. There will also be ten legal or constitutional scholars in the assembly, two farmer representatives,  two labor representatives, in addition to general representatives for the interests of women, students, and those with special needs.

In the case that the constituent assembly cannot reach a consensus of two-thirds of the assembly (67 members) in voting on the new constiution, then the assembly will re-convene within 24 hours to vote, with a lowered consensus of 57 percent.

According to the points, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi will call a joint session of the Shura Council and People’s Assembly to elect the members of the assembly.

Ayman Nour, the leader of the Revolution Tomorrow Party, confirmed that the decisions had been made concerning the members from outside the Parliament, and said that each party has the right to choose its representatives on the committee from within or outside the Parliament.

The country's Constituent Assembly, which last met in early April, has been gridlocked after various political parties withdrew from its formation, saying it was unfairly dominated by Islamist political groups.

Edited translation from Al-Ahram and Al-Masry Al-Youm

Tags: , , ,
Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
Comments (0)

Presidential Elections Commission ready to apply law banning former regime figures

by admin
April 9th, 2012

Hatem Bagato, secretary general of the Presidential Elections Commission, said the commission is ready to apply the law banning former regime members from running in the elections if it is passed by Parliament.

“We will abide by any law, even if it is retroactive, provided that it is issued by a competent body, be it Parliament or the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces in his capacity as president,” Begato said. “Until then, those who have worked for the former regime remain rightful candidates.”

He also said the commission will carefully examine all cases, and will deal impartially with all candidates, adding that the commission found duplicate signatures collected by some candidates, which would be discarded.

On Monday, the commission said it would accept challenges to its initial list of candidates on Tuesday and Wednesday, and would notify those who have not met the conditions on 12 and 13 April, to allow them to file appeals on 14 and 15 April.

The People's Assembly's Proposals and Complaints Committee approved on Monday a bill amending Presidential Elections Law 123/2011 by adding a clause banning former regime figures from running for president, the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper reported.

The amendment was proposed by MP Essam Sultan, vice president of the Wasat Party, during a parliamentary session on Sunday. The approval came at the end of discussions attended by Minister of Manpower and Immigration Fathy Fekry, the newspaper said, adding that the draft was amended per the suggestion of MPs Amr Hamzawy and Mohamed al-Beltagy.

According to the bill, those who served in leading government in the five years leading up to Mubarak's resignation are banned for ten years from running for the posts of president, vice president, prime minister and government minister. Included are those who were presidential staff, security, parliament members and ruling party officials.

Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Tags: , ,
Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
Comments (0)

FJP representatives give signatures in support of Shater’s presidency

by admin
April 2nd, 2012

Parliament members of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party signed notarized documents on Monday in support of the party’s presidential nominee, Khairat al-Shater.

Shater resigned from his post as deputy supreme guide Saturday after the group endorsed him as its nominee.

 Other political groups and some top Muslim Brotherhood members have criticized the decision because it contradicts the Brotherhood’s earlier decision not to field a candidate in the presidential election, slated for 23 and 24 May.

A candidate must collect notarized powers of attorney from 30,000 people across 15 governorates or from 30 members of both houses of Parliament.

Brotherhood members have said they will rely on MPs’ support. The FJP occupies a majority of seats in both chambers of Parliament.

“Our Parliament representatives are heading to notary offices to provide Shater with political and electoral backing,” the group’s lawyer, Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud, told Al-Masry Al-Youm. “It is not difficult for the Brotherhood to gather signatures from thousands of citizens, but we opted for the MPs backing to help our candidate save time.

“We could collect 30,000 signatures but did not want to get notary offices overwhelmed with queues of citizens,” said Mokhtar al-Ashry, an official from the FJP’s legal committee.

Tags: , , ,
Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
Comments (0)

At least 14 public figures withdraw from constitution-writing committee

by admin
March 26th, 2012

Political figures and MPs backed out of the constitution-writing committee Monday, calling into question the committee’s legitimacy in drafting the new constitution. Withdrawing members said they rejected the composition of the constituent assembly, of which a majority are Parliament members from Islamist parties.

As of Monday afternoon, 14 secular public figures had announced their withdrawal from the 100-person committee, most saying they could not participate in an assembly that represents only one political faction in Egyptian society.

MP Mona Makram Ebeid said that despite her respect for her colleagues affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice party and the Salafi Nour Party, she cannot accept membership in the committee in the current political climate. The lack of representation of women, the populations of Nubia and Sinai, and other political and religious movements is inappropriate in a committee that will write a document that will govern all of Egypt, she said.

In a statement, Ebeid added that the professional and geographic imbalance of representation in members of the constituent assembly will make it impossible for it to write a constitution that will be accepted across society.

Ihab al-Kharrat, Shura Council member, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that he withdrew because he disapproved of the parliamentary majority also occupying a majority of the assembly. The constituent assembly is like a replica of the Islamist-dominated Parliament, he said, also referring to the absence of representatives of Nubia, Sinai and Coptic Christians.

The committee will not be able to draft a consensus constitution so long as it is made of one political movement, said Abdel Ghaffar Shokr, representative of the liberal and leftist parties in the committee.

The committee would largely conclude discussions by voting, he said, which means one political school of thought will ultimately author the document.

Ahmed Khairy, member of the Free Egyptians Party, said the party chief and MP Ahmed Saeed submitted his resignation from the committee, along with party member MP Basel Adel, after the two were chosen as members from inside Parliament.

MP Amr Hamzawy also issued a statement on Monday titled, “Excusing myself to withdraw.” He said the constituent assembly was not up to par on efficiency or balanced representation across the social and political spectrum. He also said he rejected choices in membership that were predicated on loyalty and not on competency.

Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Tags: , ,
Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
Comments (0)

Parliament names members of constitution-writing assembly

by admin
March 25th, 2012

People’s Assembly Speaker Saad al-Katatny on Sunday announced the names of the 100 members of the constituent assembly elected by Parliament to write Egypt’s new constitution.

Half of the members of the constitution-writing assembly have been elected from Parliament’s upper and lower houses and the remaining half from outside it.

Katatny made the announcement following a joint meeting of members of Parliament at the International Conference Center in Nasr City, Cairo.

Mostafa Bakry, who supervised the vote-counting process, said the election was conducted in a quiet atmosphere and was characterized by integrity.

The most notable winners from inside Parliament include:

Saad al-Katatny, the People’s Assembly speaker

Mahmoud al-Khodairy, head of the People’s Assembly Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee

Mohamed Abdel Alim Dawoud and Ashraf Thabet, the People’s Assembly deputy speakers

Essam Sultan, head of the Wasat Party

Hussein Mohamed Ibrahim, majority bloc leader

Amr al-Shobaky, an independent MP

Essam al-Erian, prominent member of the Freedom and Justice Party

Waheed Abdel Maguid, leader of the Democratic Alliance led by the Muslim Brotherhood

Amr Hamzawy, an independent MP

Members elected to the assembly from outside Parliament include:

Nasr Farid Wassel, former grand mufti

Mohamed Emara, Islamic thinker

Hossam al-Gheriany, head of the Supreme Judicial Council

Farouk Gouida, a poet

Sameh Ashour, Lawyers Syndicate chief

Moataz Abdel Fattah, a political science professor

Nader Bakkar, spokesperson for the Salafi Nour Party

Abdel Hady al-Qassaby, head of the Supreme Council of Sufi Orders

Mamdouh al-Waly, head of the Journalists Syndicate

Ashraf Abdel Ghafour, an artist

Ahmed Harara, a political activist

“This is a historic day for Egypt. We have taken the first step on the road to writing the constitution,” Katatny said. “Since the first day, we have pledged not to be biased to a certain opinion. We will not accept giving up on democracy and popular participation.”

He said the constituent assembly’s first meeting will be held on 28 March at 10 am at the People’s Assembly.

Parliament members from the Free Egyptians Party, the Revolution Continues Coalition and the Egyptian Social Democratic Party abandoned talks Saturday about the selection of the 100 members of the constituent assembly that will draft a new constitution. Liberal and secular powers had generally expressed fears that Parliament’s Islamist majority would dominate the assembly.

Meanwhile, dozens of demonstrators, including several high-profile figures, protested Saturday against the composition of the assembly. Protesters demanded an assembly representative of all segments of society.

Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm

Tags: , , , ,
Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
Comments (0)

Parliament repeals law allowing president to refer civilians to military court

by admin
March 19th, 2012

The People's Assembly's Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee approved in a meeting on Monday the cancellation of a military law that empowers the country's president to refer any crime to a military tribunal. The removal of Article No. 6 of the military judiciary law means military courts will no longer have the power to refer crimes to their jurisdiction on a case by case basis.

The committee decided to postpone discussing the removal of Article No. 48 of the same law, which stipulates that judicial authorities, including military courts, are exclusively responsible for deciding whether a felony falls within their jurisdiction.

The committee has also requested it be given a week to consider Parliament members’ demands that all military verdicts issued against civilians be dropped.

General Mamdouh Shahin, a member of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, told the committee that Article No. 6 had been imposed on military leaders under former President Hosni Mubarak, adding that military officials had long called for reconsidering the article. However, he called for finding an alternative that enables the country's president to handle potential threats to national security.

Commenting on the request to revoke military court verdicts against civilians, Shahin said such a move would be dangerous, adding that those verdicts had been made in accordance with the law.

As for Article No. 48, Shahin said it is related to a number of crimes that include weapons smuggling which, he said, requires it to be restricted rather than cancelled.

MP Mohamed al-Omda, the committee's deputy chairman, objected to retaining Article No. 48 in its current form.

Meanwhile, the People’s Assembly's majority leader, Hussein Ibrahim, said the military is trying to disavow its use of Article No. 6. He emphasized the importance of the Parliament members’ demand that cases handled by military courts be referred to the civilian judiciary and that the "politically-motivated" military verdicts against civilians be dropped.

Ibrahim said that media mistook their call to grant amnesty to civilians prosecuted by the military for a call to pardon former regime figures detained on corruption charges.

Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm

 

 

Tags: , , , ,
Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
Comments (0)

Parliament repeals law allowing president to refer civilians to military court

by admin
March 19th, 2012

The People's Assembly's Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee approved in a meeting on Monday the cancellation of a military law that empowers the country's president to refer any crime to a military tribunal. The removal of Article No. 6 of the military judiciary law means military courts will no longer have the power to refer crimes to their jurisdiction on a case by case basis.

The committee decided to postpone discussing the removal of Article No. 48 of the same law, which stipulates that judicial authorities, including military courts, are exclusively responsible for deciding whether a felony falls within their jurisdiction.

The committee has also requested it be given a week to consider Parliament members’ demands that all military verdicts issued against civilians be dropped.

General Mamdouh Shahin, a member of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, told the committee that Article No. 6 had been imposed on military leaders under former President Hosni Mubarak, adding that military officials had long called for reconsidering the article. However, he called for finding an alternative that enables the country's president to handle potential threats to national security.

Commenting on the request to revoke military court verdicts against civilians, Shahin said such a move would be dangerous, adding that those verdicts had been made in accordance with the law.

As for Article No. 48, Shahin said it is related to a number of crimes that include weapons smuggling which, he said, requires it to be restricted rather than cancelled.

MP Mohamed al-Omda, the committee's deputy chairman, objected to retaining Article No. 48 in its current form.

Meanwhile, the People’s Assembly's majority leader, Hussein Ibrahim, said the military is trying to disavow its use of Article No. 6. He emphasized the importance of the Parliament members’ demand that cases handled by military courts be referred to the civilian judiciary and that the "politically-motivated" military verdicts against civilians be dropped.

Ibrahim said that media mistook their call to grant amnesty to civilians prosecuted by the military for a call to pardon former regime figures detained on corruption charges.

Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm

 

 

Tags: , ,
Categories Egypt, Egypt Top Stories
Comments (0)

Monday’s papers: Parliament slams Ganzouri address

by admin
February 27th, 2012

Monday’s papers report negative reactions from Parliament to Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri’s address to the People’s Assembly on Sunday.

Otherwise, the Parliament continues to be occupied by issues seen as irrelevant to the concerns of the general public, with the exception of a few.

After the completion of the legislative body with the elections of the Shura Council, it seems the run-up to presidential elections and the controversy around the formation of the committee drafting the constitution has taken center stage in the news.

In reaction to Ganzouri’s address, in which he placed most of the blame for Egypt’s economic crisis on foreign countries who didn’t follow through with their promises of financial support to the country and plotted against it, the Freedom and Justice Party official paper called his statements weak and criticized Ganzouri for failing to address important issues such as security plans and retrieval of stolen funds.

The independent Al-Shorouk also reports a negative reaction from the majority of Parliament members to Ganzouri’s address. The paper also reported that many members seem inclined to cast a vote of “no confidence” against Ganzouri’s cabinet.

State-run Al-Ahram newspaper, however, chose to focus on Ganzouri’s reassurance that “Egypt will never kneel down,” and that it is time for Egypt to deal with other countries as equals and to put the interests of society above those of the rulers.

Al-Ahram announces that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has invited members of both houses of Parliament to meet next Saturday to vote on the committee that will draft the new constitution.  

The paper says that the Freedom and Justice Party insists on its proposal that 40 members of the committee come from Parliament and the remaining 60 be public figures.

In its official paper, Freedom and Justice Party Chairman Mohamed Morsy reassures the public that the choice of the committee members will be based on qualifications and proportional representation of all sectors in society, including women and youth.

The paper also announces the choice of the party’s Sharqiya representative in the Shura Council Ahmed Fahmy as the speaker for the upper house of Parliament. It quotes Fahmy saying that the new council will not be made up of a majority and an opposition, but instead, all its members will work together.

Al-Shorouk publishes the developments in the efforts of the “committee of 100” attempting to form a presidential team to avoid the division of votes between the candidates representative of the revolution.

The committee has set meetings with candidates Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh and Hamdeen Sabbahi, seeking their consent to the idea before choosing one of them as president and the other as deputy.

Al-Shorouk also reports that the committee is reaching out to some of the new candidates, including leftist lawyer Khaled Ali, to convince them not to run in order not to divide the votes.

In a new episode of the series of controversial and seemingly trivial issues occupying Parliament, the religious committee discussed a proposition by MP Mahmoud Abdel Mordy to ban websites offensive to Prophet Mohamed, as reported by the Freedom and Justice newspaper.

Parliament, however, has broached a few issues that actually matter to the public, including Interior Ministry reforms and steps toward prosecuting Mubarak with the charge of high treason.

Al-Shorouk says that the Assistant Justice Minister Omar al-Sherif said in a meeting with the parliamentary Suggestions and Complaints Committee that the current law allows for the prosecution of the former president with the charge of high treason.

MP Hosni Dweidar, who proposed the move, told the paper that this meant that Parliament could summon Mubarak for prosecution.

 

Egypt's papers:
 
Al-Ahram: Daily, state-run, largest distribution in Egypt
 
Al-Akhbar: Daily, state-run, second to Al-Ahram in institutional size
 
Al-Gomhurriya: Daily, state-run
 
Rose al-Youssef: Daily, state-run
 
Al-Dostour: Daily, privately owned
 
Al-Shorouk: Daily, privately owned
 
Al-Wafd: Daily, published by the liberal Wafd Party
 
Youm7: Daily, privately owned
 
Al-Tahrir: Daily, privately owned
 
Freedom and Justice: Daily, published by the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party
 
Sawt al-Umma: Weekly, privately owned
 
Al-Arabi: Weekly, published by the Nasserist Party
 
Al-Nour: Official paper of the Salafi Nour Party
Tags: , , , , ,
Categories Local Press
Comments (0)
Next Page »