Six months since its establishment, the House of Representatives is yet to issue a number of pressing legislations, said Maat for Peace and Development in an assessment report on Monday.
These include laws that were a trigger of public controversy, such as the laws on civil services, non-governmental organisations, press and media, and protests.
Maat’s report claimed that members of the mostly pro-government parliamentary coalition named ‘Egypt’s Support’ have been “heavily pressuring” the rest of the members of parliament into accepting the civil service law, while some attempted to buy votes.
The law is still under discussion in the House of Representatives and will be subject to voting, as a minimum of two-third majority is required for the law to pass.
Regarding other pending legislation, the parliament is constitutionally bound to issue a law on the construction of churches, as well as local municipalities, which are required for elections to be held.
The elections of local councils and entities in different governorates should put end to what Maat referred to as “MPs playing municipal roles by submitting requests to build schools”, as they remain more focused on providing local services to their communities than fully undertaking their legislative and monitoring tasks.
Meanwhile, Maat’s report positively highlighted the parliament’s formation of a fact-finding committee to investigate government corruption allegations in wheat supplies. The report further praised efforts of the parliament in monitoring the government by submitting the cabinet to interrogation, adding that the parliament questioned the prime minister about 173 unanswered urgent statements submitted to the cabinet.
