Parliament Report March 2016 Table of content Section I: Introduction Section II: Parliamentary Elections Results Section III: Post-Elections (First 15 Days) Section IV: Committees and Special Addresses 2 Section 1: Introduction 3 The last four years, and the importance of a parliament + Roadmap Political and Security Situation 2011-2015 Political Roadmap . Since the January 25th revolution, a state of political uncertainty and security void created a hostile environment •Head of for business. Supreme Constitutional . Egypt saw 4 different political leaderships and 6 different Interim President Court, Adly governments in the period 2011-2013. Mansoor, . In July 2013, Egypt’s Political Roadmap was announced to •Committee of 50 July 2013 members steer the country back to political certainty. finalizing the . A significant decline in protests and public unrest was Constitutional New Constitution visible since then amendments in 60 days . The Roadmap started by appointing an interim President, Adly Mansour, as of July 2013, followed by holding the Constitutional Referendum in January 2014 and the •Constitution Constitutional Referendum Presidential Elections in May 2014. Referendum (Yes:98.13%) . The finalization of the Parliamentary Elections in December Jan 2014 2015 marked the conclusion of the Political Roadmap. •Abdel Fattah Al . The security situation got better in parallel with Egypt’s Sisi won a clear Presidential steady strides towards political stability. majority Elections . Egypt witnessed considerably lower crime rates and (96.9%). May 2014 terrorist attacks in 2014 as compared to 2013. The aggressive terrorism wave that engulfed the world in 2015 hit Egypt as well, but attacks are largely concentrated Parliamentary •Concluded in in North Sinai. Elections December 2015 4 Section 2: Parliamentary Elections Results 5 Key Legislations issued by President Al-Sisi, and the challenge of the upcoming Parliament Business-related legislations: General and Key Legislations issued 2014-2015 Taxation Category is the most targeted category, to enhance Egypt’s business environment* . Micro-Finance Law No.141/2014 General & Taxation . New Mining Law No.198/2014 . New Electricity Law No.87/2015 . Feed-in Tariff Law No.203/2014 National Mega Projects Institutional Reform . Investment Law No.17/2015 and Infrastructure . Amendments No. 56/2014 to Competition Protection Law No.3/2005 . Suez Canal Economic Zone Law No.330/2015 Non-Banking Financial . Real-Estate Financing Law No. 55/2014 Energy . Sinai Development Law No. 142/2015 Sector Legislations in the Pipeline Parliament’s Role in Policy and Upcoming Challenge 1. Natural Gas Law 5. Industry Law • According to article 101, the Parliament’s role is to 2. Commercial 6. Labor Law approve the country’s general strategy set by the Register Law 7. Companies Law Executive branch, and the State’s General Budget set 3. Financial 8. Consumer Protection by the Ministry of Finance. Markets Law Law . According to the 2014 Egyptian Constitution Art.156, 4. Customs Law 9. Bankruptcy Law the newly elected Parliament will have to review all legislations issued in its absence. This article positions the Parliament in the face of a tough challenge only within its first two weeks. Source: N Gage Research 6 * Based on data in June 2014 to September 2015 Parliament Distribution No. of Seats by Party (Total Party Seats:240), where For the Love Egypt is the winning list consolidating the Free Egyptian Party and the Nation's Future 120 seats in Parliament Party Dominate Free Egyptians Party 22% Nation's Future New Wafd Nation's Guardians Party People's Republican Party Conference Party 78% Nour Party Conservatives Individual Seats Party List (For the Love of Egypt) Democratic Peace Party National Egyptian Movement Top two Parties and the Winning Party List New Egypt Party Egyptian Social Democratic Party . Top two parties winning seats in Parliament are the Egypt My Country Free Egyptians Party and Nation’s Future Party. Both the Free Egyptians and Nation’s future are formed by Reform and Development Party major businessmen, Naguib Sawiris and Ahmed Abu Freedom Party Hashima respectively. Both parties are expected to Democratic Arab Nasserist Party adopt policies favored by the business community. Egyptian Edifice Party . As for the Love of Egypt, the winning list, founded by Tagamoa' Party ex-military and now security analyst Sameh Seif Al- Guardians of the Revolution Yazal includes Mohamed El Sewedy, Head of the 1 21 41 61 Egyptian Federation of Industries, Faragalla’s Mohamed Farag Amer, Partner at Talaat Mustafa Group. 7 Parliament Distribution Elected Parliamentarians Male to Female Ratio Other Categories such as Youth, Parliamentarians with Special Needs and Egyptians Living Abroad Youth 16 13% Egyptians Living Female 8 8 Special Needs Abroad Male 1 87% Dual-Nationality Distribution of Elected Parliamentarians Elected Parliamentarians by Age Groups by Academic Degree 54, 10% 5% 88, 16% Bachelors from 25-35 15% Degree 2% Phd 122, 22% 36-45 5% 99, 18% Masters Degree 46-55 56-60 73% Diplomas 192, 34% Above 60 Basic Education 8 Top Fives Top three voted for Members of Parliament Tawfik Okasha (94,968 votes) – Now Stripped of his Parliamentary Membership Former Parliamentarian, Television presenter, owner of nationalist Al-Faraeen Channel District: Talkha & Nibru, Dakahleya Mohamoud Mohy Al-Din Hassan (85,116 votes) Former officer in the Armed Forces and Political Researcher in Regional and Security Issues District: Ashmoun, Munofeya Tawfik Okasha Mahmoud Mohy Mortada Monsour Mortada Mansour (82,557 votes) Al-Din Hassan Lawyer, Former Member of Parliament, Chairman of Al- Zamalik Sport Club District: Mit Ghamr, Dakahleya High-profile Businessmen in Parliament Mohamed Farag Amer Akmal Qortam Mohamed El Sewidy Mohamed Wagih Abaza Mohamed El Sallab Chairman of Borg Al- Oil and Gas tycoon, Electrical Cable Automobile tycoon Owner of Al-Sallab Arab Industrial Chairman of the Manufacturer, Head of for Ceramics Community, Founder of Conservative Party the Egyptian Faragalla Federation of Industries 9 Parliament Distribution High-profile Media Figures Former Ministers in Parliament . Mustafa Bakry – Editor in Chief of Al-Esboa . Mohamed Al-Orabi – Former Minister of Foreign Affairs . Osama Hikal – Former Minister of Information (2011-2011) . Tawfik Okasha – President and TV Host at Faraeen TV . Osama Hikal – Former Minister of Information (2011-2012) . Abdel-Rahim Aly – CEO at Bawaba News . Tahir Abu-Zeif – Former Minister of Youth and Sports . Motaz Al-Shazly – CEO and Editor in Chief of Al-Gamahir . Aly El-Messeilhy – Former Minister of Social Solidarity 10 Section 3: Post-Elections (First 15 Days) 11 As per the 2014 Constitution, Parliament has to review all legislations issued during its absence. Main business legislations are approved, yet the Civil Service Law failed to appeal MPs Key Business Legislations approved: Civil Service Law: Voted Down, why? . New Mining Law • MPs called to equate the 5% with inflation rates . Law Restricting Appeal on Government Contracts • Employee assessment are the same regardless of . Income Tax Law academic degree/qualifications . Sales Tax Law • Law exempts some entities, mostly sovereign, from the . Maximum Wage Law application of the law, which posed questions of fairness and equality. Amendments to Investment Law • Law grants superiors to release/suspend civil servants . Law Granting Preference to Egyptian Products in after filing a report against them if they were seen as Government Contracts incompetent. Controversial Laws that Were Approved Upcoming Draft Laws to be Addressed . Mining Law: The new Mining law is considered a breakthrough for the • Value Added Tax (VAT) under-developed sector. The old law that regulated the mining • New Civil Service Law industry was drafted in the 1950’s. The law is mainly in favor • New Customs Law of the Egyptian government by putting higher royalties than the ones in the old law. • New Labor Law . Law Restricting Appeal on Government Contracts • Further Amendments to Investment Law The arguments raised regarding this law is that it opens • Amendments to Tenders and Bids law unlimited horizons for the executive branch. The law came • Unified Journalism Law during the transitional period of Interim President Adly • Unified Nile Law Mansour, issued essentially to boast investments. During that • Amendments to Franchise Law period a number of privatization reviews were raised. These • Anti-Cyber Crime Law reviews posed a major concern among foreign investors. Therefore, the law was issued to preserve government contracts for third party challenge. 12 Section 4: Committees and Special Addresses 13 Special Committees Health, Population and the Agriculture, Irrigation, and Religious Affairs and Industry and Energy Environment Land Reclamation Endowments Head: Mohamed El Zeiny Head: Youssef Badran Head: El Sayid Hassan Head: Ossama El Abd Secretary: Mostafa Abou Secretary: Mahmoud Abou Secretary: Mahmoud Secretary: Ossama El Azhary Doma El Kheir Shaalan Defense and National Foreign Relations Labor Youth and Sports Security Head: Mohamed El Araby Head: Salah Eissa Head: Kassem Abou Zeid Head: Kamal Amer Secretary: Tarek El Kholy Secretary: Mahmoud Azouz Secretary: Ahmed Zeidan Secretary: Hassan Hassanien Housing Education and Scientific Planning and Budget Arab Affairs Head: Youssra El Moghazi Research Head: Kamal Ahmed Head: Seadawy Hussein Secretary: Abdel Wahab Head: Amna Nasir Secretary: Silvia Saidhom Secretary: Ahmed Ibrahim Khalil