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Egypt’s Change in Legislative Activities
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Lobbying
Maryam Adly UIBS01042
Winter 2015
Mr. Jonas Ljunggren

Egypt’s Change in Legislative Activities

Egypt is one of the most significant and powerful countries in the Middle East. It has one of the highest GDPs, which is expected to increase further in the coming years, relative to the rest of the countries in the Middle East. It is critical to study the reasons behind this success in order to be able to reenact it and benefit from that knowledge. The success of any country begins with its legislative system, as all legal activities that take place need to be compatible with the law first in order to be executed. For Egypt, this system changed greatly after two major revolutions; the 1952 and 2011 revolutions which both aimed to overthrow the regimes at that time.

The Egyptian legal system is based on both the Islamic laws, which is called Al Sharia in Arabic, and on the Napoleonic code. The first written constitution adopted after Egypt became a republic was in 1956 by former president Gamal Abdel Nasser after the 1952 revolution. Later, in 1971, President Anwar El Sadaat adopted a new democratic constitution, which gave more freedom and democratic practices allowing political parties to return. When the fourth Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, took control, he amended the constitution twice in 2005 and in 2007 having changed 34 articles in 2007. Moreover, during the 2011 Egyptian revolution, 5 articles were amended in addition to having removed one article. Later, also in 2011, the military suspended the constitution and suggested the amendment of 7 articles and the removal of one. This proposal was voted on by the citizens and it passed having 77.2% of the votes in favor of the changes. Today, there are 63 articles in the most recent Egyptian constitution.

Nowadays, the following is how the legislative authority operates. It has the power to authorize and accept laws and politics, set the general budget of the country, supervise government activities, and the power to vote to replace the president or the government. The Egyptian parliament has two legislative chambers; the People’s Assembly and the Shura Council. The people’s assembly was founded in 1971 due to the new constitution. 444 deputies are directly elected, while 10 deputies are appointed by the president, which results in a total of 454 deputies. The People’s Assembly, changes every five years, however, the president may dissolve it earlier. As for the Shura council, which is the consultative council, it consists of 264 members where 174 of them are elected and 88 are chosen by the president. However, the Shura council was abolished in 2013.

In conclusion, the change in Egypt’s legislative activities over the past four decades has led to upswings and downfalls in its political and social circumstances. However, laws are continuously being amended to satisfy the citizens and please the parliament like those amended in the 1980s, giving people more freedom. Even though this can cause chaos and more problems, it has also contributed to Egypt’s social development and improvement. Egypt’s two major turning points took place when each of the two revolutions occurred. First it went from being a kingdom to being a republic in 1952, and then from an almost 30-year long dictatorship to a democratic republic.

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[ 1 ]. http://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/global-economic-prospects/data?variable=NYGDPMKTPKDZ®ion=MNA
[ 2 ]. http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/12/2/new-egyptian-charterenshrinesmilitarypower.html
[ 3 ]. http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/03/30/egypt.constitution/index.html
[ 4 ]. http://www.almasryalyoum.com/news/details/122361
[ 5 ]. http://www.egypt.gov.eg/english/laws/constitution/default.aspx
[ 6 ]. http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/Egypt.htm

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