International Cooperation Minister Fayza Abul-Naga has declared that Egypt's Parliament is not legally entitled to issue a vote of no-confidence in the current interim government. Nor, she said, was it entitled to appoint a new government.

Abul-Naga, who has maintained her current Cabinet position since the pre-revolution Mubarak era, stressed that the constitutional declaration – issued one year ago by Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) – did not give parliament the authority to replace the interim SCAF-appointed government.

"Those calling for the dismissal of the current government should read the constitutional declaration before making such claims," the minister told a press conference on Wednesday.

Last weekend, the Freedom and Justice Party's Farid Ismail, head of Parliament's defence and national security committee, charged that the incumbent government of Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzouri had appointed numerous members of the ousted Mubarak regime to important government posts and should therefore be relieved of its duties.