Egypt's new Parliament holds first post-Mubarak session
CAIRO. January 23. KAZINFORM Egypt's parliament convened Monday for the first time since former President Hosni Mubarak's ouster last year, Kazinform refers to CNN.
Lawmakers are expected to vote for the speaker of the house and his two deputies.
The session came two days before the January 25 anniversary of the start of the uprising that toppled the former leader's regime.
Two Islamist parties won about 70% of the seats in elections for the lower house of parliament, according to electoral commission figures released Saturday.
The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party won 235 seats and the conservative Al Nour party gained 121 seats in the People's Assembly, according to final results.
The assembly consists of 498 elected members. Ten others are chosen by the country's military rulers, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
The council has appointed its 10 representatives to the assembly. They include five people of the Coptic Christian faith, a minority group that has faced attacks and is fearful of Islamism.
Last week, Egypt's top political parties agreed to nominate a member of the Muslim Brotherhood for speaker, the first time in decades that an Islamist would hold that post.
He is Mohamed Katatni, an FJP politician.
"The top priorities of the next parliament are social justice, retribution for martyrs, fulfilling goals and demands of the revolution and the advancement of Egypt," Katatni said in a statement.
Elections for the upper house of parliament, the Shura Council, will be completed next month. Presidential elections are set for June.
The full parliament must appoint a 100-member panel to write a new Egyptian constitution.
The assembly convenes a year after popular revolts erupted, eventually leading to Mubarak's downfall. The longtime president is on trial on charges of corruption and ordering the deaths of hundreds of protesters.
Military rulers have led Egypt's government since Mubarak's fall. They have said they will hand over power to a new government once one is in place.
But the transition has not been quick or transparent enough for some Egyptians. A series of protests in Cairo last month resulted in violent and sometimes deadly clashes between demonstrators and soldiers.