After a two-week delay, elections for senior posts within Egypt parliament's 25 committees were held on Monday. Many MPs affiliated with the pro-government Support Egypt bloc won uncontested. Some committees, however, saw a significant shake-up after competitive polls. Parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Al told MPs in a plenary session on Monday morning that "according to parliament's internal bylaws, MPs should meet at the beginning of each parliamentary session to elect the senior members of parliament's 25 committees." Each MP should elect a head, two deputies, and one secretary-general. Abdel-Al indicated that the polls would be held under the supervision of parliament's two deputy speakers – Soliman Wahdan and El-Sayed El-Sherif. "They will also take charge of revising any complaints that might be filed against the results of these elections," said Abdel-Al. The polls were scheduled to be held on 4 October, but they had been delayed due to parliament marking its 150-year history in a big celebration in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh last week. Topping the list of Support Egypt winners are Osama Heikal, a former information minister and the current chairman of the Egyptian Media Production City. Heikal was re-elected head of parliament's Media, Culture and Antiquities Committee. Other Support Egypt figures include: Saad El-Gammal: Head of the Arab Affairs Committee Mohamed Ali Youssef: Head of the Micro, Small and Medium-sized\ Enterprises Committee Osama El-Abd: Head of the Religious, and Awqaf (religious endowments) Affairs Committee Gibali El-Maraghi: Head of the Labour Force Committee Hamam El-Adli: Head of the Complaints and Proposals Committee Abdel-Hadi El-Qasabi: Head of the Social Solidarity, Family and Physically Challenged Individuals' Affairs Committee Hassan Eissa: Head of the Budget and Planning Committee Kamal Amer: Head of the Defence and National Security Committee Mohamed Farag Amer: Head of the Youth and Sports Committee Other committees saw competitive polls. Mostafa El-Guindi, a leftist-oriented independent MP, was elected head of the African Affairs Committee. El-Guindi, also a businessman, has extensive relations with many African countries, especially Ethiopia, and is a member of the leftist parliamentary bloc known as the 25-30 group. Ahmed Said, a former head of the liberal Free Egyptians Party, was elected head of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Said won 16 votes while his only rival, Mohamed El-Orabi, a former foreign minister, got five. Alaa Abed, a leading figure of the Free Egyptians Party, was elected head of the Human Rights Committee. As many as seven MPs who competed for the post decided to withdraw from the race. One of these, businessman and head of the Conservatives Party Akmal Qortam, accused the Free Egyptians Party of compelling its MPs to join the human rights committee to have adequate voting power to elect Abed. Qortam described the vote as "undemocratic" and as a result he said he had decided to resign from parliament. Sahar Talaat Mostafa: Head of the Tourism, and Civil Aviation Committee. Mostafa won 11 votes while her rival, Amr Sedki, got nine votes. Ahmed Samir: Head of the Industry Committee. Samir got 18 votes while his main rival Mohamed Badrawi got 17 votes. The committee's former head, businessman Mohamed El-Sewedi, did not join the race after he was elected head of the Support Egypt coalition. Saeed Tiama: Head of Transport and Telecommunications Committee. Tiama won unrivalled. Nidal El-Said: Head of the Telecommunications and Information Technology. El-Said was able to defeat his rival May El-Batran who was the committee's former head. Hesham El-Sheini: Head of the Agriculture, Irrigation, Food Security and Animal Wealth. El-Sheini, a member of the Free Egyptians Party, won uncontested. Bahaaeddin Abu Shoqa: Head of the Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee. Abu Shoqa, an appointed MP, is the secretary-general of the liberal Wafd Party. Gamal Shiha: Head of the Education, Higher Education, and Scientific Research Committee. Shiha, a professor at Mansoura University, is a member of the leftist 25-30 group. Alaa Wali: Head of the Housing, Public Utilities and Reconstruction. Wali, a construction magnate, defeated the committee's former head and business tycoon Moataz Hassan. While Wali got 24 votes, Hassan got 23 votes. Ali El-Moselhi: Head of the Economic Affairs Committee. El-Moselhi, a Mubarak-era figure who is a former minister of social solidarity, is an independent MP. Talaat El-Sewedi: Head of the Energy and Environment Committee. El-Sewedi, a high-profile industrialist, is a member of the Wafd Party. Magdi Morshed: Head of the Health Affairs Committee. Ahmed El-Sigini: Head of the Local Administration Committee. El-Signi is a member of Wafd party.
