The political system in Arab Republic of Egypt
Chapter
1
1.
Introduction
1.1
Geography
of Egypt
The Arab Republic of Egypt (Jumhuriat Misr al-'Arabiyah) is a country that situated in the
north-eastern corner of Africa and south-western Asia. Cairo (Al-Qahira) is the capital city of
Egypt. It is bordered by Libya to the west, Sudan to the south, the Red Sea to
the east, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north. Egypt has the largest, most
densely settled population among the Arab countries. (Gale, 2007)
The total area of the country covers approximately one
million square kilometers. The total land area is 995,560 Km2 (384,388 sq.
miles). (Population, 2017)
Egypt
includes parts of the Sahara Desert, Libyan Desert, and the Nile River, which
runs from south to north. (Michigan state university,
2017)
The majority of Egyptians live either in the Nile Delta located in the
north of the country or in the narrow Nile Valley south of Cairo. (Ministry of
Health and Population, 2015)
1.2 Population in Egypt
In Africa and the Middle East Egypt is one of the most populous countries.
Which estimated population In April 2017 are 94,839,621
Egypt ranked 15th in the world. The population density of Egypt as a whole is 96
people per square kilometer (248 people per mi2). 39.7% of the population
is urban (37,826,341 people
in 2017) the median age in
Egypt is 24.8 years. (Population, 2017)
Egypt is largely
dominated by one ethnic group, the Egyptians. But there are also two smaller
groups, the Bedouins and the Berbers. (Cummins, 2017)
1.3 Religions in Egypt
Islam in Egypt is the dominant religion, which the Sunnis are the largest sect and Shia is the minority. The 1971
constitution declares Islam to be the state religion. According to official
estimates, 90% of the population are Muslim and 8% to 10% are Christian, with the Coptic Orthodox Church being
the largest Christian denomination. Other denominations represented include
Armenian Apostolic, Greek and Syrian Orthodox, Catholics (including Armenian,
Chaldean, Greek, Melkite, Roman, and Syrian), and a variety of evangelical
Protestant denominations. The Baha'i faith is also represented. The Jewish
community is extremely small. (Advameg, 2017)
1.4 Languages
in Egypt
According to article 2 of the Egyptian
Constitution, Arabic is the official language of the country. Standard Arabic is the official language in Egypt. It
is taught in schools and thus spoken by nearly everyone, with the exception of
a small minority, mainly uneducated individuals, Bedouins, and desert dwellers.
However, the native language in most of the country and the national lingua
franca is Egyptian Arabic, one of the numerous local dialects of Arabic.
Although each country in the Arab world has its own dialect, Egyptian Arabic
has the highest number of native speakers so that it is also known as a second
language by many Arabs especially in the neighboring countries. In Egypt, English and French
are also taught as second languages in all public Egyptian schools. (Languages in
Egypt, n.d.)
1.5
Egypt finance
Egypt's economic
model is gradually reforming from the Naxiell era of state-owned economy into
the era of Mubarak free market economy, an open market economy, with relatively
complete industrial, agricultural and service industry system. Egypt's service
sector accounts for half of GDP, industrial light industry -based textile, food
processing and so on. The rural population accounts for more than half of the
total population, and agriculture accounts for 14 per cent of gross domestic
product. Tourism, remittances, Suezcanal transport and oil is Egypt's main
source of foreign exchange earnings, but also the national economy of the
"four pillars." (trading economics, n.d.)
1.6 Education
in Egypt
In Egypt there are
two systems of education. Those are public school and private school. Public
education in Egypt is free. It is required for all children to study for 8
years, 5 years of primary and 3 years of secondary school. Three additional
years of secondary school are needed for college or university. One of the
universities in Egypt is Cairo University. Cairo University offers a wide range
of studies. These include medicine, engineering, and law. Another good
university in Egypt is Al-Azhar. Al-Azhar University in Cairo was established
in the 900s. It is considered by many people to be the oldest university in the
world. It was founded as a center for teaching Arabic literature and Islamic
law and theology. It now includes technical subjects along with its traditional
course of study. (the internet nation, n.d.)
2. Objectives of study
2.1. To examine the political system in Egypt
2.2. To analyse the political issue in Egypt
Chapter 2
content
2.1 Political history of Egypt
Egypt declared its independence on the
22nd of February 1922. Just like any other country under British
colonization, it went through some struggles as well to reach to this stage. I
will be explaining this briefly and later will explain the current political
system practiced in Egypt. (Bisgaard-Church, 2011)
To start off with, Egypt fell into
British hands in December 14, 1914. A former education minister by the name of
Saad Zaghlul later founded the party called Wafd which was to be used to bring
Egypt to its independence. In the beginning however, the Wafd party were denied
their attendance to peace talks in Britain or Paris. This angered them and led
to some acts that ended up in Zaghlul being arrested and exiled to Malta. (Bisgaard-Church, 2011)
This act by the British then led to more
revolts. They soon decided to change the British High Commissioner who was seen
as being very lenient to the Egyptians. Again, nothing seemed to work and
finally after sending a Colonial administrator Lord Alfred Milner, the British
decided to give the Egyptians limited independence, after his advice that the
political situation in Egypt was getting out of hand. (Bisgaard-Church,
2011)
2.2
Political system of Egypt
Next, the
political system in Egypt. Egypt is a republic and it is a democratic system.
Its constitution comes from the English Common Law and Napoleonic code. There are three main branches
of the government as stated in the Egyptian Constitution are (1) the executive
branch, (2) the legislative branch, and (3) the judicial branch. (Library of Congress, 2015)
2.2.1 Executive
branch
In the Executive branch, they have the president
who the chief of state and also Supreme Commander of the
Armed Force. Next, they have the Prime minister who is head of the government
consisting of the council of ministers. (Michigan state university, 2017) They are in charge of the general policy of
the State before the People’s Assembly. Also, they are of course responsible
for the performance of their own ministry. (political system, 2017) The
president is elected by the absolute majority vote through a two-round system.
The prime minister is appointed by the president and approved by parliament.
Election cycle is 6 years. (Michigan state university,
2017)
Egypt in 2017
·
the President is Abdelfattah Said ELSISI (since 8 June 2014)
·
Prime Minister is Sherif ISMAIL (since 12 September 2015)
·
Cabinet sworn in 19 September 2015 (The world fact book, 2017)
2.2.2 Legislative branch
In the legislative
branch (parliament) we see it’s made up of the People’s Assembly and the
Advisory Council. The People’s Assembly is the legislative branch and it has
the power to approve new laws, general policy, development plants and more.
Besides that, it can appoint the Presidential candidate and these are amongst
the powers it possess. The Advisory council on the other hand, offers advices
and consultation as well as proposes new laws and regulations to the Assembly. (political system, 2017) The advisory council has 176 members elected by absolute
majority vote through a two round system, While 88 members of the shura council
/advisory council are appointed by the President The people's assembly has 166 members elected
by absolute majority vote through a two-round system and 332 members elected
through a closed-list proportional representation system. The election cycle For Advisory
Council is 6 years and People's Assembly is 5 years. (Michigan state
university, 2017)
As for the
legislative branch, currently in the year 2017 this is how It is. The Unicameral
House of Representative or also known as the Majlis Al-Nowaab has 596 seats.
From this amount of seats, 448 seats are directly elected by individual
candidacy system. 120 seats elected in party-list constituencies , and this one
is done by simple majority popular vote. Finally, 28 members selected by the
president. (IndexMundi, 2016)
2.2.3 Judicial
branch
The Judicial
system in Egypt, is based on English Common Law, Islamic Law, and Napoleonic
codes. There are four courts of justice that carry this out and they are the
Supreme Constitutional Court, Court of Cessation, Seven courts of Appeal and
the Summary Tribunals in the districts. (political system, 2017)
The highest court in the country is the
Supreme Constitutional Court (SSC) consisting of the court’s president and
other ten justices. The Supreme Constitutional Court is the last court of
arbitration on the constitutionality of country’s laws and other conflicts
between the lower courts on matters concerning rulings and jurisdiction. The
Court of Cessation (CC) is made up of the president of the court and other 550
judges structured in circuits and cases are heard by five judges. The Court of
Cessation is the highest court of appeal for criminal and civil cases. The
Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) is made up of the president of the court and
it is structured in circuits as well, and cases are heard by a panel of five
judges. The Supreme Administrative Court is the highest court of the state
council. According to the 2014 constitution, all the judges and justices are
selected by the Supreme Judiciary Council and the appointment is done by the
president. Judges are appointed for life. There are other subordinate courts in
the country which include the courts of Appeal, Courts of the First instance,
courts of limited jurisdiction, and family courts that were established in 2004. (politics-What Type Of Government Does Egypt Have?,
2016)
Finally we look
at the party in power and local government. The Egyptians run a Multi- party
system and there are 17 active political parties currently. The law also prevents
any religious-based political parties being created. (political system, 2017) There are 27
Governorates in Egypt and they are headed by a Governor. The four Urban Governorates (Cairo,
Alexandria, Port Said, and Suez) have no rural population. Each of the other 23
governorates is subdivided into urban and rural areas. Nine of these
governorates are located in the Nile Delta (Lower Egypt), nine are located in
the Nile Valley (Upper Egypt), and the remaining five Frontier Governorates are
located on the eastern and western boundaries of Egypt. This local government is in charge
of establishing and running all public utilities and providing services. (Michigan state university, 2017)
2.3
List of Presidents and Political parties in Egypt
2.3.1 Presidents of Egypt
Since Egypt
has been a republic, it has had a total of 9 Presidents. A list of all of them
and their respective terms in office can be found below. (Pariona, 2017)
1. Muhammad
Naguib from 1953 to 1954
2. Gamal
Abdel Nasser from 1954 to 1970
3. Anwar
Sadat from
1970 to 1981
4. Sufi
Abu Taleb 1981
5. Hosni
Mubarak from
1981 to 2011
6. Mohamed
Hussein Tantawi from
2011 to 2012
7. Mohamed
Morsi from
2012 to 2013
8. Adly
Mansour from 2013 to 2014
9. Abdel
Fattah el-Sisi (Incumbent) from 2014-Present
2.3.2 Some of Political parties in
Egypt
Al-Nour [Yunis
MAKHYUN]
Arab
Democratic Nasserist Party [Sameh
ASHOUR]
Congress
Party
[Omar Mokhtar SEMEIDA]
Conservative
Party
[Akmal KOURTAM]
Democratic
Peace Party
[Ahmed FADALY]
Egyptian
National Movement Party
[Ibrahim DARWISH]
Egyptian
Social Democratic Party
[Mervat TALAWAY]
El
Tagamu'u Party (National Progressive Unionist)
[Sayed Abdel AAL]
Freedom
Party [Mamdouh
HASSAN]
Free
Egyptians Party [Essam
KHALIL]
Homeland’s
Protector Party [Lt. Gen. (retired) Galal
AL-HARIDI]
Modern
Egypt Party
[Nabil DEIBIS]
Mostaqbal
Watan (Nation’s Future) Party [Mohamed
Ashraf RASHAD]
My
Homeland Egypt Party
[Qadry ABU HUSSEIN]É
National
Progressive Unionist (Tagammu) Party [Sayed
Abdel AAL]
Nation's
Future Party [Ashraf RASHAD, secretary general]
New
Wafd Party
[Sayed al-BADAWI]
Reform
and Development Party [Mohamad
Anwar al-SADAT]
Republican
People’s Party [Hazim
AMR]
Revolutionary
Guards Party [Magdy
EL-SHARIF]
2.4 Political incidents in Egypt
THE EGYPTIAN
REVOLUTION IN 2011
The Middle
East and North Africa countries had witnessed the series of protests and
demonstrations starting in 2010 and became known as the "Arab
Spring". It was sparked by the first protests that occurred in Tunisia December 2010,
continued Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Syria and Yemen then spread to other countries. (Jason Brownlee, 2015)
The Egyptian
revolution on 25 January 2011 consisted of demonstrations, marches, and
occupations of plazas. The revolution included liberal, anti-capitalist,
nationalist, and feminist elements and Islamic groups as well. To
understand Egypt`s political
instability, it helps to remember that the “revolution” of 2011 was brought
about by the junction of at least five different dynamics; revolutionary,
liberal, Islamist, trade unionist, and military. Converging in an exceptional
manner at a physical point of intersection -Tahrir Square-
these dynamics brought about a “moment of enthusiasm” and brought about the fall
of Hosni Mubarak. (Rougier, 2015)
Indeed, the
revolution in Egypt was fired in January 2011, however the factors of its
preparation was basely coming from a few years ago. The quitting jobs in the
city of Al-Qubra were serious matter in April 2008. As a matter of fact, within
those 3 years, at least 1,500 jobs were cut. Then it pushed workers' protests
had taken place in the coming three years. (İsmail Numan Telci, 2014)
Protests were
held across the country and many cities were involved such as Cairo, Alexandria
and Mansoura. Among those cities; Cairo has been at the epicentre of the
revolution; the largest protests were held in downtown Tahrir Square, considered the "most effective symbol".
In Cairo, as in all major cities whose demonstrators congregated in and tried
to cordon off major public squares and spaces, protesters came from various
areas and neighbourhoods with one focal point as their destination: Midan al-Tahrir. (Mehrez, 2012)
Then the
government began to stop social media communications and put leverage on
internet censorship. The fact that Hosni Mubarak`s regime took
the step of blocking the internet, despite the millions of dollars lost to the
economy, is a testament to the fear it provoked among the rulers. In Egypt did
not work. By the time the regime blockers the internet on January 28 it had
already lost control. The revolution was already tangible, it was escalating
spontaneously. There was no need to organize events online because people were
spending every day face to face on the streets. (Alex Nunns,
April 2011)
Consequently,
while demands were excessively increased by demonstrations; resulted in
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down and handed over power to the
military. Mubarak dissolved his government, and then appointed Former Chief of
Egypt's Air Force Ahmed Shafik as the Prime
Minister to form a new government. (Güçtürk, January 2016)
For sure, the
aims of protests in Egypt were not centred on religion-based politics, but
nationalism and social consciousness. Above all, it is known that
socio-economic problems lay at the heart of the rebellion in Egypt. As
Professor Gilbert Achcar successfully elaborated; all the factors needed for a
social boom particularly in the long run, especially before 2011. (Gilbert Archar, 2014)
Moreover, the
citizens` demands of the Revolution were based on freedom, dignity and social
justice not basically for living expenses, and job. Such as some instances are; not only did the
state monitor and terrorize political opposition groups and religious
activists, but its oppressive reach extended to anyone engaged in public
service, including charities whose field operations were limited to empowering
the poor and unfortunate. With over 40 percent of Egyptians living below the
poverty line, the authorities were trying to curb anyone who might mobilize the
masses for a future political cause. (Ghonim, 2012)
All in all,
the citizens have performed numerous heroic legendary and epic sagas which had
been written in the history of Egypt. Yes, it is very true that the power of
the people is greater and stronger than the people in power. Here in Egypt, the
government thought people will fear and leave their homes, squares and streets
would be empty. However, citizens have exhibited a historical stance against
governmental attitudes. (Dagli, 2017)
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