What will happen at Egyptian House of Representatives’ inaugural session today?

CAIRO – 12 January 2021: The inaugural session of the new Egyptian House of Representatives is kicking off today at 11 A.M. with MPs taking oath for a five-year term.

The House will convene for its first legislative session as per directives by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi last week.

Renowned Egyptian author Farida Al-Shoubashy is set to head the first session, aided by the youngest two MPs in the House. Accordingly, MP Abanoub Ezzat and MP Fatma Selim will aid Shoubashy during the session.

During the session, the presidential decree asking the House to convene and the relevant National Election Authority’s decrees will be read out loud.

Taking oath

After that, the head of the session, Shoubashy, will read out loud the oath, followed by the two assisting MPs.

Each of the MPs in the session will then read out loud the oath, in accordance with the constitution.

The oath formula comes as follows:

"I swear by Almighty Allah (God) to faithfully preserve the Republican system, respect the constitution and the laws, take full care of the people’s interests and preserve the independence of the nation and the safety and integrity of its lands."

Choosing speaker

According to the House’s laws, the speaker and his/her two deputies will be elected by MPs by the majority of votes.

Names of the nominees will be handed to the head of the session in a period that she will determine.

A voting process will be held in secrecy, while the session will be public.

After the results are announced, the new speaker and his two deputies go up to the podium instead of Shoubashy and the young assisting MPs.

The speaker will then call for an election to choose heads of the 25 parliamentary committees.

Eventually, the president of the nation shall be informed of the result.

Coronavirus measures

Secretary General of the House of Representatives Mahmoud Fawzy said in December that the parliament has adopted all precautionary measures against coronavirus before receiving the new MPs for the opening of the new legislative session, MENA reported.