Powers
By convention, the president controls foreign-affairs and defense-related issues of the state, while the prime minister manages the day-to-day affairs including the economy.
The prime minister heads the Cabinet, which in turn plays 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.
Under the system created by the 1980 constitutional amendments, the president is the pre-eminent executive figure who appoints 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. Several cohabitation governments took control in the 1970s yet proved to be very unstable.
Read more about this topic: Prime Minister Of Egypt
Famous quotes containing the word powers:
“All the powers of imagination combine in hypochondria.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“Everyone confesses in the abstract that exertion which brings out all the powers of body and mind is the best thing for us all; but practically most people do all they can to get rid of it, and as a general rule nobody does much more than circumstances drive them to do.”
—Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896)
“If powers divine
Behold our human actions—as they do—
I doubt not then but innocence shall make
False accusation blush.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)