Politics of Egypt takes place in a framework of a semi-presidential republic, whereby the President of Egypt is de facto both head of state and head of government, and of a party system dominated by the National Democratic Party. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the People’s Assembly and the Shura Council.
Background
Egypt has been a republic since 18 June 1953. President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak has been the President of the Republic since October 14 1981, following the assassination of former-President Mohammed Anwar El-Sadat. Mubarak is currently serving his fifth term in office. He is the leader of the ruling National Democratic Party. Prime Minister Dr. Ahmed Nazif was sworn in as Prime Minister on 9 July 2004, following the resignation of Dr. Atef Ebeid from his office.
Egypt is regarded by many as being ruled by a military dictatorship. Although power is ostensibly organised under a multi-party semi-presidential system, whereby the executive power is theoretically divided between the President and the Prime Minister, in practice it rests almost solely with the President who traditionally has been elected in single-candidate elections for more than fifty years. So, how can we explain the sustainability of power in the hands of the President for this long period of time? One approach to explain the lack of democracy in Egypt is the famous rentier state theory. Although it is not one of the oil producing countries, Egypt's income largely comes from outside. The Egyptian budget heavily depends on tourism and financial support provided by foreign institutions and governments. "The U.S. has a large assistance program in Egypt and provides funding for a variety of programs in addition to some cash transfers." For example, "in September 2005 [Egypt was] issued $1.25 billion in 10-year bonds that were fully guaranteed by the United States." (US Department of State; Background Note: Egypt; http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5309.htm). In addition, tourism plays an important role in providing the country with hard courrency and helps financing the budget. This makes Egypt share a feature of rentier states, which is its relative independence from the national economy as a source of income for the government. Furthermore, there is the identity and colonial history approach. "Foreign influences over national culture and identity are seen as a means for the West to undermine the nation." As a result, people attempt to differentiate themselves from the West by stressing their difference and rejection of certain Western values such as gender equality. "The policing of the nation’s boundaries are conducted both through the construction of consent for the hegemonic culture backed by coercive mechanisms. Consequently, the process of identity construction as a means of resistance to the West contains an anti-democratic logic." (Identity, Culture and Democratisation: The Case of Egypt). These are some of the approaches aimed to explain Egypt's lack of democracy. But this is not say at all that the political life has been frozen in that country. Egypt is witnessing some political changes driven by American influence, some would argue, following the US 'Greater Middle East Initiative'. Although the United States has long advocated the promotion of human rights and political freedom in Egypt, most experts agree that, prior to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, economic reform superseded political reform in the West’s relations with Egypt. However, with the recent push for democracy in the Middle East seen as a counterweight to Islamic militancy and intellectual and social stagnation, U.S. policy regarding Egypt has been reinvigorated, as policymakers seek to balance U.S. security interests with U.S. democracy promotion policies." (CRS Report for Congress; Egypt: Background and U.S. Relations- Updated June 14, 2006-, available online at: http://www.usembassy.at/en/download/pdf/egypt_us.pdf) In late-February 2005, Mubarak announced in a surprise television broadcast that he had ordered the reform of the country's presidential election law, paving the way for multi-candidate polls in the upcoming presidential election. For the first time since the 1952 movement, the Egyptian people had an apparent chance to elect a leader from a list of various candidates. The President said his initiative came "out of my full conviction of the need to consolidate efforts for more freedom and democracy." However, the new law placed draconian restrictions on the filing for presidential candidacies, designed to prevent well-known candidates such as Ayman Nour from standing against Mubarak, and paved the road for his easy re-election victory.
Concerns were once again expressed after the 2005 elections about government interference in the election process through fraud and vote-rigging. In addition, violence by pro-Mubarak supporters against opposition demonstrators and police brutality were evident during the elections. This poses major questions about the government's purported commitment to democracy.Bhuppi 17:59, 7 March 2007 (UTC)
As a result, most Egyptians are skeptical about the process of democratisation and the role of the elections. A very small proportion of those eligible to vote actually turned out for the 2005 elections. Newspapers, however, have exhibited an increasing degree of freedom in criticizing the president, and the results of the recent parliamentary elections, which saw Islamist parties such as the banned Muslim Brotherhood winning many seats, genuinely indicate that a change of some sorts is underway.
Constitution
The Constitution of Egypt was approved by referendum in 1970 and amended in 1980 and 2005. The Egyptian constitution declares Egypt to be a "democratic and socialist republic", operating under a "multiparty system" semi-presidential system.
The national government of Egypt is divided into an executive branch, a legislative branch and a judiciary branch. The Constitution grants wide powers to the executive. The President of Egypt heads the executive branch. The President’s powers stem from his ability to appoint the powerful prime minister and one or more Vice-Presidents. However, the President’s choice of the prime minister has to yield and maintain the approval the People’s Assembly (Maglis A Sha’ab), the lower house of Parliament.
Egypt is a unitary state, meaning that its subdivisions do not have constitutional status. However, the various legal subdivisions, the governorates (Muhafazat), cities (Mudun), and counties (Kofour), have various attributions.
Egypt is now a republic.
Executive branch
| Office | Name | Party | Since |
|---|---|---|---|
| President | Hosni Mubarak | NDP | 14 October 1981 |
| Prime Minister | Ahmed Nazif | NDP | 14 July 2004 |
President of the Republic
In February 2005, President Mubarak proposed an amendment to article 76 of the constitution that would allow, for the first time, multi-candidate presidential elections. A referendum was held on May 25 2005, as required by the constitution, and the amendment was approved (reportedly, with a majority of over 82% support). However, the terms of the newly adopted amendment make it very difficult, if not impossible, for candidates other than those of Mubarak's National Democratic Party, which holds about 90% of parliament seats, to run for the elections. The hurdles include requiring aspiring presidential candidates to first secure the support of 250 elected officials (including 140 local council members, 65 People's Assembly deputies, and 25 members of the Shura Council), and requiring that the parties they represent to have existed for at least five years. In the event, the referendum was boycotted by some of Egypt's leading opposition parties, including the Wafd.
Under the 1980 amendments of the Egyptian Constitution, the President is elected for six years. As of 2005, President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak has been the President of the Republic since 14 October 1981 and is currently serving his fifth term. President Mubarak was re-elected in 1987, 1993, and 1999, making him the longest serving Egyptian President in the history of the Republic.
The President of Republic is elected indirectly in a two-stage system unique to Egypt. The People’s Assembly, the lower house of Parliament, nominates one of a number of candidates for presidency. The presidential candidate requires at least a two-thirds majority in the People’s Assembly in order to proceed to the second stage of the elections. The presidential candidate is voted on in a yes-or-no binding public referendum. On achieving a simple majority in the public referendum, the presidential candidate is sworn in as President. However, if the candidate is fails to obtain the required majority, the People’s Assembly nominates a new candidate for presidency, thus returning to the first stage of elections. The President may be re-elected multiple times with no limitation on the number of terms allowed to be served.
The Egyptian system for presidential election is regarded by many as not being fully democratic due to the fact that it is the People’s Assembly and not the populace itself, who retains the upper-hand in choosing the Chief of State. In addition, it allows for whatever party or coalition controlling the People’s Assembly to put forward their candidate as the presidential candidate. This greatly explains how in most of the 1980s and 1990s the National Democratic Party has managed to maintain the office of President and a parliamentary majority.
The President names the prime minister and may preside over the cabinet. President Mubarak holds a monthly meeting with the cabinet on which he presides. In addition, the President is the Supreme Commander of the Egyptian Armed Forces. The President concludes treaties and may submit questions to national referenda. The President also possesses the constitutional power to dissolve the People’s Assembly, however, no President has ever done so. In certain emergencies, the President may assume special, comprehensive powers.
Under the system created by the 1980 constitutional amendments, the President is the pre-eminent executive figure, who names the Prime Minister. When the President's political party or supporters control parliament, the President is in effect the ‘dominant’ player in executive action, choosing whoever he wishes for government, and having it follow ‘his’ political agenda. However, when the President's political opponents control parliament, the President's dominance can be severely limited, as he must choose a prime minister and cabinet reflecting the majority in parliament. When parties from opposite ends of the political spectrum control parliament and the presidency, the power-sharing arrangement is known as cohabitation. By convention, the President controls foreign-affairs and defence related issues of the state, while the Prime Minister manages the day-to-day affairs including the economy.
In the late 1970s Egypt had several cohabitation governments which proved to be unstable, due to the struggle arising between the President and the Prime Minister. However, since 1981, the National Democratic Party has maintained a majority in the People’s Assembly and supplied the Egyptian President.
The government or cabinet (Al-Hokouma Al-Misreya)
Main article: Cabinet of Egypt, Prime Minister of Egypt
The government, or the cabinet, is headed by the Prime Minister of Egypt. It has at its disposal the civil service the government agencies. The cabinet, headed by the Prime Minister, is responsible only to Parliament, specifically the People’s Assembly. The People’s Assembly may pass a motion of censure, forcing the resignation of the cabinet. Ministers have to answer questions from Members of Parliament, both written and oral; this is known as Inquiries to the Government Talebat Ihata. In addition, ministers attend meetings of the two houses of Parliament when laws pertaining to their areas of responsibility are being discussed.
Traditionally, the cabinet comprises, in decreasing rank:
- The Prime Minister
- Presidential Ministers, the ministers of Defense, Interior, Foreign Affairs, and Information are appointed by the President himself and report both to the President and the Prime Minister (as opposed to other Ministers who can only report to the Prime Minister).
- Ministers
- Ministers of State, described as ‘junior ministers’, are assigned specific responsibilities or agencies. The portfolios of ministers of state are considerably more transient, as positions may be created and dissolved to suit specific short-term government priorities or the specific qualifications of candidates without alterations to the departmental structure, e.g. the Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs.
- Ministers without portfolio, ministers who do not head specific departments and occasionally attend cabinet meetings, e.g. Minister without Portfolio Omar Suleiman, the current Chief of the Egyptian Intelligence Services.
- Chairmen of Departments, who head certain important departments that do not fall under the jurisdiction of any of the ministers and answer directly to the Prime Minister, e.g. The Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority.
- Ministers-Delegate, who assist ministers in areas of their duties and rarely attend cabinet meeting
The number of ministries and the splitting of responsibilities and administrations between them vary from government to government, but some positions tend to stay the same, even though the exact title of the position may vary.
- Ministry of the Interior (law enforcement, prisons)
- Ministry of Defence and Military Production,
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Ministry of Justice (running the court system, supervision of the prosecution service)
The government has a leading role in shaping the agenda of the houses of Parliament. It may propose laws to Parliament, as well as amendments during parliamentary meetings. It may make use of some procedures to speed up parliamentary deliberations.
As of 9 July 2004, the Prime Minister is Dr. Ahmed Nazif.
Legislative branch
Parliament meets for one nine-month session each year: under special circumstances the President of the Republic can call an additional session. Even though the powers of the Parliament have increased since the 1980 Amendments of the Constitution, the Parliament remains to lack the powers to balance the excessive powers of the President.
The People’s Assembly (Majilis Al-Sha’ab)
The People’s Assembly is the principal legislative body. Out of the assembly’s 454 deputies, 444 are directly elected while no more than 10 may be appointed by the President (article 87 of the Constitution). The Constitution reserves fifty percent of the assembly seats for ‘workers and peasants’. The assembly sits for a five-year term but can be dissolved earlier by the President. All seats are voted on in each election. Four hundred seats are voted on using proportional representation while the remaining forty-four are elected in local majority votes.
The People’s Assembly may cause the resignation of the executive cabinet by voting a motion of censure. For this reason, the Prime Minister and his cabinet are necessarily from the dominant party or coalition in the assembly. In the case of a president and assembly from opposing parties, this leads to the situation known as cohabitation. While motions of censure are periodically proposed by the opposition following government actions that it deems highly inappropriate, they are purely rhetorical; party discipline ensures that, throughout a parliamentary term, the government is never overthrown by the assembly.
The Shura Council (Majilis Al-Shura)
The Shura Council is the 264-member upper house of Parliament created in 1980. The Shura Council roughly translates to the ‘Consultative Council’ in English. In the Shura Council 174 members are directly elected and 88 members are appointed by the President of the Republic for six-year terms. One half of the Shura Council is renewed every three years.
The Shura Council's legislative powers are limited. On most matters of legislation, the People’s Assembly retains the last word in the event of a disagreement between the two houses.
Parliamentary elections
There currently exist eighteen recognized political parties from across the political spectrum. The formation of political parties based on religion is prohibited by the Constitution. The official opposition and political pressure groups, like the Muslim Brotherhood, are active in Egypt and make their views public. They are represented at various levels in the political system. However, power is concentrated in the hands of the President of the Republic and the National Democratic Party which retains a super-majority in the People's Assembly.
The November 2000 Parliamentary Elections are generally regarded to have been more transparent and better executed than past elections. This is due to the new Law put into force establishing universal judicial monitoring of polling stations. On the other hand, opposition parties continue to lodge credible complaints about electoral manipulation by the government. There are significant restrictions on the political process and freedom of expression for non-governmental organizations, including professional syndicates and organizations promoting respect for human rights which have been greatly loosened up in the past five years.
Below the national level, authority is exercised by and through governors and mayors appointed by the central government and by popularly elected local councils.
Judicial branch
The Egyptian judicial system is based on European, primarily French, legal concepts and methods. Under the several governments during the presidency of Mubarak, the courts have demonstrated increasing independence, and the principles of due process and judicial review have gained greater respect. The legal code is derived largely from the Napoleonic Code. Marriage and personal status are primarily based on the religious law of the individual concerned. Thus, there are three forms of Family Law in Egypt, Islamic, Christian, and secular (based on the French Family Laws).
The judicial branch plays an important role in the political process in Egypt, the branch is given the responsibility to monitor and run the country's parliamentary and presidential elections.
Supreme Constitutional Court
The Supreme Constitutional Court is an independent judiciary body in the Arab Republic of Egypt, with its new seat in the Cairo suburban, Maadi.
The Court is the highest judicial power in Egypt and it alone undertakes the judicial control in respect of the constitutionality of the laws and regulations and shall undertake the interpretation of the legislative texts in the manner prescribed by law.
The chief judge of the Supreme Court was the head of the Presidential Election Commission that supervised and ran the country's first multi-candidate presidential elections in 2005.
Political parties and elections
According to the Egyptian Constitution, political parties are allowed to exist. Religious political parties that are banned from being formed in Egypt. Also political parties that encourage militia formations or that has an agenda that is contradictory to the constitution or threatening to the country's stability such as the national unity between the Muslims and copts in Egypt.
Today, there are 18 political parties in Egypt.
Civil society
Egyptians have been living under emergency law since 1967, except for an 18-month break in 1980. Emergency laws have been continuously extended every three years since 1981. These laws sharply circumscribe any non-governmental political activity: street demonstrations, non-approved political organizations, and un-registered financial donations are formally banned. Nonetheless, since 2000, these restrictions have been violated in practice. New non-governmental organizations and activity first emerged around solidarity with the Palestinians during the second Intifada and continued with opposition to the invasion of Iraq. The Popular Committee in Solidarity with the Palestinian Intifada (PCSPI), which operates on a grassroots basis, and has held a variety of unlicensed activities, has formed a model for nongovernmental action. In 2005, the agenda shifted towards democratic reforms, opposition to the succession of Gamal Mubarak as president, and rejection of violence by state security forces. Groups involved in the latest wave include PCSPI, the Egyptian Movement for Change (Kifaya (Enough)), and the Association for Egyptian Mothers.
Substantial peasant activism exists on a variety of issues, especially related to land rights and land reform. A major flashpoint was the 1997 repeal of Nasser-era land reform policies under pressure for structural adjustment. A pole for this activity is the Land Center for Human Rights.
Administrative divisions
Egypt is divided in 26 governorates (muhafazat; singular – muhafazah): Ad Daqahliyah, Al Bahr al Ahmar, Al Buhayrah, Al Fayyum, Al Gharbiyah, Al Iskandariyah, Al Isma'iliyah, Al Jizah, Al Minufiyah, Al Minya, Al Qahirah, Al Qalyubiyah, Al Wadi al Jadid, Ash Sharqiyah, As Suways, Aswan, Asyut, Bani Suwayf, Bur Sa'id, Dumyat, Janub Sina', Kafr ash Shaykh, Matruh, Qina, Shamal Sina', Suhaj.
Political pressure groups and leaders
The Muslim Brotherhood currently constitutes Mubarak's most significant political opposition; Mubarak tolerated limited political activity by the Brotherhood for his first two terms, but has moved more aggressively in the past six years to block its influence (arguably leading to its recent rise in public support). Trade unions and professional associations are officially sanctioned.
Foreign relations
The permanent headquarters for the League of Arab States (The Arab League) is located in Cairo.The Secretary General of the League has traditionally been an Egyptian. Former Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa is the present Secretary General of the Arab League. The Arab League briefly moved out of Egypt to Tunis in 1978 as a protest at the peace treaty with Israel, but returned in 1989.
Egypt was the first Arab state to establish diplomatic relations with the state of Israel, after the signing of the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty at the Camp David Accords. Egypt has a major influence amongst other Arab states, and has historically played an important role as a mediator in resolving disputes between various Arab nations, and in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. Most Arab nations still give credence to Egypt playing that role, though its effects are often limited.
Former Egyptian Deputy Prime Minister Boutros Boutros-Ghali served as Secretary General of the United Nations from 1991 to 1996.
A territorial dispute with Sudan over an area known as the Hala'ib Triangle, has meant that diplomatic relations between the two remain strained.
External links
General government sites
- Official Egyptian Government Portal
- Egyptian Investment Portal official government site
- Egypt State Information Service official government site
- The Egyptian Presidency
- The People Assembly of Egypt
- Egyptian Shoura Council
Ministries
- Council of Ministers
- Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Ministry of Manpower and Emigration
- Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs
- Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources
- Ministry of Youth
- Ministry of Planning
- Ministry of Economy
- Ministry of Finance
- Ministry of Petroleum
- Ministry of Culture
- Ministry of Investment
- Ministry of Education
- Ministry of People's Assembly
- Ministry of Shura Council Affairs
- Ministry of Tourism
- Ministry of Health and Population
- Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
- Ministry of State for Local Development
- Ministry of Foreign Trade & Industry
- Ministry of Electricity and Energy
- Ministry of International Cooperation
- Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT)
- Ministry of Information
- Ministry of State for Administrative Development
- Ministry of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Communities
- Ministry of Interior Affairs
- Ministry of Supply and Home Trade
- Ministry of Defense and Military Production
Political parties
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