Egyptian parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Aal has called on MPs to convene for an extraordinary plenary meeting on Sunday at 12pm to vote on a presidential decree to reshuffle the cabinet, Al-Ahram Arabic daily newspaper reported. Sources told Al-Ahram daily newspaper that the reshuffle will include three ministries, and that Prime Minister Sherif Ismail will not be among the ministers to be replaced. Article 147 of Egypt's 2014 constitution states that the president may invoke a cabinet reshuffle after consultation with the prime minister and the approval of parliament by an absolute majority of attending members, who must be no less than one-third of the total. The House secretariat-general led by Ahmed Saadeddin has sent invitations to parliament's 596 members, urging them to come on time for “urgent reasons.” Article 277 of parliament's internal bylaws states that for “extraordinary reasons or upon the request of the president of the republic or prime minister, the speaker of the House can invite MPs to meet in a plenary session ahead of the scheduled one,” said a press statement by the parliament. Some MPs, most notably Mohamed El-Sewedi, the head of the 370-member Support Egypt parliamentary bloc, have complained about the “poor performance” of some cabinet ministers and their refusal to come to parliament to be questioned. Housing minister Mostafa Madbouly was appointed as acting prime minister last November after Prime Minister Sherif Ismail left for Germany to receive medical treatment. Although Ismail returned to Egypt on 21 December, he has not shown up for cabinet meetings. The cabinet of Ismail, who was appointed prime minister in September 2015, has seen two reshuffles since his appointment. A February 2017 reshuffle saw the changing of nine ministers, while a March 2016 reshuffle involved 10 ministries.
