Egypt’s House of Parliaments fifth session was concluded on Monday by Parliamentary Speaker Ali Abdel-Aal.
During the session, a total of 243 draft laws were approved, a significant increase on draft law approvals given in previous parliamentary sessions.
Mohamed Medina, a member of the House of Representatives’ Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee, said that the return of the parliament in October is inevitable by order of the constitution.
Medina added that Parliament must be in session in October to approve the extension of the state of emergency, which will end that month. He added that the opening for candidacies in the run up to House of Representatives elections will start next September.
The sixth session must be held before January 2021, which will mark the current parliament’s having completed five years since the date of its first session.
In the recent parliamentary session, approved laws covered a range of areas, including the country’s economics and security. It saw a draft law amending some provisions of the 2015 law regarding the regulation of lists of terrorist and terrorist entities, and a draft law amending some provisions of the Penal Code.
Also gaining approval were draft laws on protecting personal data, amending some provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Law, amending some provisions of laws regarding the organising of prisons, and in the matter of combating drugs and drug trafficking and regulating their use.
In addition to this, amendments on some provisions of the Armed Forces Retirement, Insurance and Pensions Law were also approved.
Other approvals were given to draft laws amending: the law regulating Egypt’s real estate registry; some provisions of establishing the Egypt Fund; some provisions of Law No 141 of 2014 regulating microfinance activities; some provisions of Law No 10 of 1990 regarding expropriation of real estate for the public benefit; provisions on organic farming; and the issuance of a law organising advertisements on public roads
In the field of protection, social and health care, and the advancement of youth, several laws were approved related to regulating consumer finance activities. It will also see the Innovators and Excellence Fund established, regulating some of the conditions for deputies to governors and to the matter of health precautions for the prevention of infectious diseases.
In November 2019, Abdel Aal said that the current parliament would continue its work until January 2021 as stipulated in the Constitution, which outlines five-year legislative terms.
In July, he announced the end of the fourth legislative round of the 2015 parliament, which witnessed the approval of 156 laws.
At the beginning of the fifth round, Members of Parliament announced that sessions would be aired live, with former head of the media committee Osama Heikal later saying that this would not occur.
The first parliamentary session, which included 596 members, began on 13 January after a three year-absence, representing the first parliamentary session of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s tenure.
Among the top priorities of the 2015 parliament was the issuing and amending of a number of new and old laws to meet the people’s demands made during the 25 January and 30 June Revolutions.
