Egypt’s first parliament in three years holds opening session

Egypt’s new parliament held its opening session on Sunday, more than three years after a court dissolved the old Islamist-dominated chamber.
A report from Cairo said the body was expected to chose a speaker on its first day and now has 15 days to approve hundreds of laws issued by executive decree during the period when it was suspended.
It disclosed that the new parliament, which would be dominated by an alliance loyal to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has 568 elected members plus another 28 appointed directly by him.
The report noted that the new assembly was chosen in elections that critics said were undermined by a security crackdown on Islamist and other opposition groups.
Egypt’s last parliament was elected in 2011-12 in the country’s first free vote following a popular uprising that ended autocrat Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule.
But a court dissolved that parliament in mid-2012 after ruling that the election laws at the time were unconstitutional.
A year later, Mubarak’s elected successor, Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, was himself overthrown by the army led by al-Sisi.
Reuters/NAN.