Parliament of Egypt - History and Composition

History and Composition

Parliamentary life began in Egypt as early as 1866, and since then several forms of national assemblies have been formed, dismantled and amended to reach the present-day form. Since 1866, Egypt witnessed seven parliamentary systems whose legislative and oversight competences varied and reflected the history of the Egyptian people's struggle to establish a society based on democracy and freedom. For more than 135 years of parliamentary history Egypt witnessed 32 Parliaments whose members ranged between 75 and 458 who contributed to writing Egypt's modern political social, economic and cultural history. According to the present-day constitution, the Parliament comprises the following two legislative houses or chambers:

• The People's Assembly ("Majlis Al-Sha’ab"), a 454-member lower house.
• The Shura Council ("Majlis Al-Shura"), a 264-member upper house.

The 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, many still argue that the Parliament continues to lack the powers to effectively balance the powers of the President.

With the 2011 Egyptian revolution the Parliament was dissolved by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces on February 11, 2011.

On July 8, 2012, Egypt's new president Mohamed Morsi said that he's overriding a military edict that dissolved the country's elected parliament and calling on lawmakers back into session.