An Egyptian woman stands outside the office of Khairy Marzouk, an independent candidate for the upcoming parliament election in the city center of El-Minya, Egypt, on Oct. 15, 2015. Egypt's long-awaited parliamentary election will be conducted in two stages covering the country's 27 provinces. The first stage covering 14 provinces will be held on Oct. 18 and 19, while the second covering the rest 13 provinces on Nov. 22 and 23. (Xinhua/Pan Chaoyue)
by Mahmoud Fouly
CAIRO, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The coming parliament of Egypt that will be recently elected is unlikely to affect the previous bills and decrees made by President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi due to declining opposition and time limit, said Egyptian political and legal experts.
The first stage of the country's long-awaited parliamentary polls will kick off Sunday, likely to end three-year parliament absence by the end of 2015.
President Sisi is currently holding the legislative authority in the absence of a parliament whose elections were supposed to be held six months after the new constitution is approved in early 2014.
TIME LIMIT
Egypt has been without a parliament for about three years, as the last one which was elected in late 2011, months after the ouster of long-time leader Hosni Mubarak, was dissolved in June 2012 by a court order.
The election of a new parliament represents the third and final phase of a three-stage roadmap, including a new constitution and presidential elections, announced by Sisi as then-military chief on the removal of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in early July 2013.
Article 156 of the new constitution states that all the bills issued by the president must be reviewed and approved within 15 days of its first assembly. If they are not reviewed or discussed or if they are discussed but not approved, the power of their previous legal effect will automatically be dropped.
"This period is too short to review such a large number of laws made over the past couple of years, which represents a large and heavy burden for the coming parliament," Yahya al- Gamal, constitutional expert and former deputy prime minister, told Xinhua.
Gamal noted that the new parliament still can decide to delay the revision of specific laws for a later time, but they all have to be reviewed by the parliament.
DECLINING OPPOSITION
Since Morsi's removal, the new leadership declared "a war against terrorism" and issued a number of anti-terror and anti-protest laws that allegedly limited freedom and opposition in the country.
The crackdown on Morsi's loyalists extended to reach liberals who once supported Morsi's ouster, leaving thousands of both sides in jail mostly from the Muslim Brotherhood group that is now labeled as "a terrorist organization."
Islamists in general and the Brotherhood in particular used to represent a major part of opposition during the time of former military-oriented leaders. Ultraconservative Al-Nour Party, which supported Morsi's ouster, is running for the parliamentary polls and is expected to offer "polite" opposition as stated by its leading figures.
"Theoretically, the coming parliament has the power to amend or disapprove the president's previous bills, but I do not expect it to do so because it will lack a powerful major bloc that can offer strong opposition," said Sobhy Essila, expert at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.
The new election law provides 75 percent of the 596 seats for individual candidates and only 120 seats for party lists, with remaining 28 seats selected by the president, which has disappointed most political parties as it may open door for wealthy people and business tycoons to dominate the parliament.
There are also candidates who once belonged to Mubarak's now-dissolved ruling National Democratic Party, besides businessmen who made their wealth during Mubarak's era.
"Most of the individual candidates are figures who do not largely oppose Sisi and their general tendency is to support him as well as the state policies," Essila told Xinhua, adding that such a kind of parliament expected to pass all the previous bills made by Sisi.
"The parliament is expected to come from different ideologies and tendencies but share a general attitude that does not oppose Sisi or the country's general policies," he said.
