Following the elections to select the leaders of the internal committees in Egypt’s House of representatives held on Saturday, the “Support Egypt” parliamentary coalition won the majority of the leading posts, according to state-owned Ahram Online. The coalition, which is widely considered to be sympathetic to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, will head 14 of the as of yet announced 18 committees, thus consolidating its control over the newly-elected Egyptian parliament. The Support Egypt MP winning the most votes for the respective committee he was running for was Osama Heikal, former information minister and the current chairman of the Egyptian Media Production City. Running for the leadership of the Media, Culture and Antiquities Committee, Heikal won 10 out of a total of 18 votes. He said that his political bloc did not field candidates for all of parliament’s internal committees because they wanted to see a diverse mix of committee heads. “We fielded candidates in 16 committees only, allowing other political factions to compete and win posts,” said Heikal. The committees that the Support Egypt coalition secured include transportation, industry, manpower, defense and national security, agriculture, housing, and Arab countries’ affairs….
Pro-Sisi Coalition Consolidates Control of Egypt’s Parliament after Committee Elections
April 24, 2016
