Egypt’s presidency has extended an invitation to political parties to meet with Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on Monday, the first meeting with the president since he took office last year.

The meeting will be an open discussion, and will include diverse political groups with varying ideologies, spokesman of the liberal-left Constitution party, Khaled Dawoud, told Ahram Online.

In the event that the Constitution party attends the meeting, it will be represented by someone other than Hala Shukralla, as the party-head is currently abroad.

Egypt’s political parties are gearing up for the upcoming parliamentary elections, set to begin on 21 March.

Parliamentary polls are the last step in a “roadmap to democracy” set forth following the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 after only one year in office.

Egypt has not had a parliament since a majority-Islamist parliament was disbanded in June 2012 when the high constitutional court dubbed the law upon which the parliament was elected in 2011 as “unconstitutional."

President El-Sisi holds all legislative power until a new parliament is sworn in. In addition to drafting new legislation, the upcoming parliament is expected to vote on decrees issued by El-Sisi and his predecessor, interim president Adly Mansour.