A Public Service

Parliamentary elections were expected to be held this week in March; however, a ruling by the Supreme Constitutional Court delayed the elections once more after the constituency law was ruled unconstitutional. Despite another delay in the much anticipated vote, Egypt Today's March 2015 issue takes a look at how the elections are shaping up and who the main players may be. Mohamed Hassanein, former senior consultant to former interim President Adly Mansour, weighs in on what to expect of the successful candidates who will form the next assembly. By Ahmed Mansour What should the public expect from the upcoming parliament? The members of [this] parliament are up for a very hard time, and we, as experts, make sure that we clarify this fact to them through the media. What we really should be expecting from the members is for them to be the voice of the people; they are the ones that represent us when it comes to matters that involve the government, such as safety, job opportunities and all of our basic needs that are supplied to us by the government. Each member goes to the secretary general with the problems in his district, so the representative should be well aware of the issues taking place, and he must find a solution for them, and that is the main job of each member in the parliament. Another important task of the parliament is that they act as a watchdog over the president and his government; they are the ones that discuss the laws issued by the president and decide whether to approve them or not, and they have the total right to vote a minister off his seat if most of the Assembly agrees that he’s not doing a [satisfactory] job. How different is this assembly from the ones before? Previous parliaments were ruled by a majority of members of parties that the presidents belonged to, and by default, this always creates common interests by forcing the president to work on what the party favors and vice versa. This parliament is different because President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi wasn’t a member of any political party before [he was elected], and he doesn’t show any signs of loyalty to any specific regime or political ideology. Does the constitution limit the assembly’s authorities? There is a misconception that the recently amended constitution limits the parliament’s authorities, but on the contrary, it allows them to do whatever they want, and personally that was the main reason why I voted yes to the modifications in the latest referendum. The idea was to have no limits on the authority of the parliament so that the president and the government wouldn’t feel like they own their decisions, and from previous experiences, one should always have a backup plan in case the government decided not to take their jobs seriously. On the other hand, the constitution places a lot of limitations on parliament members as individuals. For example, they don’t have the political immunities they once had and it’s easy for the people to push out their district representative if they felt like he is not meeting their expectations. A lot of parties and individuals are boycotting the parliamentary elections because members of the National Democratic Party are running for seats, do you think this is the right course of action?    I believe that there were politicians in the NDP that worked really hard to steer Egypt to a better place, but their reputation got smeared just because they were under the umbrella of the infamous party. Personally, I’m upset at the fact that Ahmed Ezz, specifically, is running. As for the parties’ decision to boycott the elections, I think that is naïve. No one will listen to them when they choose not to talk; they should join in to at least win some votes from the NDP members and that is how you work on avoiding a crisis, rather than blame the authorities for allowing them to participate in the first place. Why do you think celebrities are nominating themselves to be parliament members? Ever since the January 2011 Revolution, everything is evolving around politics and them being celebrities, it’s in their nature to always seek the spotlight and remain under it. In my opinion, I think it’s ludicrous. Most of the celebrities trying to win seats in parliament have no political education or experience whatsoever, and participating in political events since the 2011 Revolution simply doesn’t cut it. I’ve been practicing politics for almost 30 years now, and I know that I am not experienced enough to handle such a position with such responsibilities. et Mohamed Hassanein has a PhD in Parliament Election Studies and is a former senior consultant to former interim President Adly Mansour.