Egypt’s House of Representatives gave its vote of confidence, by overwhelming majority, to Prime Minister Sherif Ismail’s cabinet on Wednesday. 433 (91 percent) of Egypt’s members of parliament voted in favor of the cabinet’s program, while 38 parliamentarians voted against it and a mere five abstained from casting their vote. Ismail presented the government’s program to the country’s House of Representatives on March 27. According to Egypt’s 2014 constitution, the government’s program must gain a vote of confidence from the majority of the members of parliament. If the government fails to gain a majority vote within 30 days, the president must appoint a new prime minister, nominated by the party or bloc of parties holding the highest number of parliamentary seats. If the second cabinet also fails to secure the vote of confidence, the House of Representatives is to be dissolved. The policy statement of Prime Minister Sherif Ismail’s government had been expected to be voted through as most of the MPs previously had stated they would endorse the program, but only because there was a lack of consensus on what an alternative government would look like, according to state-owned Ahram…
