The majority Mostaqbal Watan (Nation’s Future) party — which holds 54 per cent of seats in the House of Representatives — swept last week’s parliamentary committee elections.
The party won 67 out of 100 positions as MPs were invited to elect the head, two deputies, and a secretary-general for each of parliament’s 25 committees.
All 25 committee chairs — 17 of them affiliated to Mostaqbal Watan — were elected unopposed. Five independent MPs, and a single representative from Humat Watan (Protectors of the Nation), Wafd, and Horreya (Freedom) parties were also chosen.
As expected, businessmen MPs secured the lion’s share of posts on economic committees.
MP Mohamed Al-Sallab, a Mostaqbal Watan official and member of the Federation of Egyptian Industries, was re-elected head of the Industry Committee. Al-Sallab is a major distributor of ceramics and construction materials.
Wafd Party official Talaat Al-Sewidi, a member of the high-profile family that produces electric cables and engineering equipment, was re-elected head of the Energy and Environment Committee.
Head of Mostaqbal Watan’s Cairo office Mohamed Suleiman, an accountant and founder of a construction development company, was re-elected chair of the Economic Affairs Committee, while independent MP Fakhri Al-Fiqi, a former IMF consultant and CBE board member, was re-elected head of the Budget Committee.
Construction company owner and senior official of Horreya Party Mohamed Attia Al-Fayoumi was re-elected chairman of the Housing Committee.
Other Mostaqbal Watan MPs to succeed in securing re-election include Nora Ali, a former head of the Union of Chambers of Tourism, as chair of the Tourism and Civil Aviation Committee; Alaa Abed, a former police officer, as chair of the Transport Committee; Hisham Al-Hosari, re-elected to the Agriculture and Irrigation Committee; Ahmed Al-Sigini, re-elected to head the Local Administration Committee; and TV host Ahmed Badawi at the Telecoms and Information Technology Committee.
Ashraf Hatem, a former health minister, was re-elected chair of the Health Committee; Ibrahim Al-Heneidi, an independent MP and former parliamentary affairs minister, was re-elected to chair the Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee, and Abdel-Hadi Al-Qasabi, Mostaqbal Watan parliamentary spokesperson, was re-elected head of the Social Solidarity, Family, and the Physically Challenged Affairs Committee.
As in the House of Representatives, the leadership of the Senate’s 14 committees remained mostly the same.
Wafdist senator and accountant Hani Sarieddin was re-elected head of the Senate’s Financial and Economic Affairs Committee. Businessman Mohamed Halawa was re-elected head of the Industry and Trade Committee. Abdel-Sallam Al-Gabali, a high-profile agricultural investor, was re-elected head of the Agriculture and Irrigation Committee. Iron and steel tycoon Ahmed Abu Hashima was re-elected chairman of the Youth and Sports Committee.
Former presidential candidate Hazem Omar, who owns a tourist business and heads the People’s Republican Party, was re-elected head of the Arab and Foreign Affairs Committee. One new face, businessman Magdi Selim, was elected head of the Energy and Environment Committee.
It is no surprise that businessmen hold so many leading positions in the House of Representatives and the Senate, says former independent MP and professor of political science Gamal Zahran, given that a majority of new political parties — including Mostaqbal Watan, Humat Watan and the People’s Republican Party — were founded by businessmen.
“As long as the country continues to pursue privatisation and economic liberalisation, so business will seek political power by establishing political parties and joining parliament,” says Zahran.
“The most important thing is that these businessmen do not try to use their positions in parliament to promote their personal interests.”
Following a three-month recess, this week the House of Representatives began its fifth and final legislative session. New elections for both the House of Representatives and the Senate will be held in the second half of next year.
On Tuesday, the House of Representatives gave final approval to government-drafted amendments to the law regulating the performance of the Sovereign Fund of Egypt (SFE). The amendments allow the prime minister to appoint the head of the fund (a position currently held by the minister of planning) and place the fund under cabinet control.
Some opposition MPs voted against the amendments. Abdel-Moneim Imam, head of Al-Adl (Justice) Party, argued that placing the SFE under cabinet purview compromises its independence and that in voting for the amendments, MPs were abandoning their supervisory role.
In response, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Political Communication Mahmoud Fawzi said putting the fund under the control of the cabinet, with the prime minister in charge of appointing the minister responsible for the fund, “will not impact the SFE’s independence”.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 10 October, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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