One of Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi's first decisions after being sworn in as president was to grant the outgoing interim president Adli Mansour the Nile Medal of Honour, Egypt's highest award, in recognition of his role in the transitional process following Mohamed Morsi's removal from office. Two days before Mansour left the presidential palace he signed legislation addressing a host of controversial topics, from the organisation of the upcoming parliamentary elections and combatting sexual harassment to who can preach in mosques. Commentators agree Mansour's ratification of the new laws was an attempt to pave the way for Al-Sisi's presidency. On 5 June Mansour signed laws regulating elections of the House of Representatives, and the exercise of political rights. The final version of the parliamentary elections law stipulates that the House of Representatives will contain 567 seats rather than the 630 originally proposed. Of the total members 420 (75 per cent) will be elected via an individual candidacy system and 120 (20 per cent) drawn from party lists. The remaining 27 seats will be occupied by presidential appointees, in accordance with article 102 of the constitution. Article 4 stipulates that party-based candidates will contest just four districts. A complementary law must now be issued redrawing electoral boundaries and specifying the districts confined to competition among party lists and those reserved for independents. Lists of party-based candidates must include five women, three Copts, two representatives of farmers and workers, two representatives of young people, a single representative of people with special needs and one representative of Egyptian expatriates. Forty-five-member lists must include nine seats for Copts, six for workers and farmers, six for youth, three for people with special needs, three for expats and 18 for women. The weighting of parliamentary seats in favour of independents has angered opposition parties. Abdel-Ghaffar Shukr, deputy chairman of the Popular Alliance Party, says several political parties have agreed to submit a memorandum to President Al-Sisi urging him to reduce the number of seats allocated to independent candidates from 75 per cent to 50 and to allow proportional, rather than closed party, lists. “Under the closed system now specified,” Shukr explains, “a winning list must secure at least 50 per cent plus 1 of the votes in the district for MPs to be returned. A list that wins 49 per cent of the votes will not succeed in sending any candidates to parliament.” The individual candidacy system, say its critics, serves the interests of Mubarak-era politicians and businessmen, and the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. “Independent candidates need money or strong familial and tribal connections to win,” says Shukr. “They are the two things new political parties lack but which Mubarak-era and Brotherhood stalwarts have aplenty.” Though the total number of seats has been reduced from the 630 initially proposed to 567 Shukri believes the number remains high. “It will make for an unwieldy parliament in which members will be pressed for time to make their views known on the floor of the house. The danger is that parliament will turn out to be nothing but a big talking shop.” In 2010, during the last parliamentary elections held under the Mubarak regime, the number of seats in the People's Assembly was increased from 454 to 518. In the 2012 elections seats there were 508 seats. A second law endorsed by Mansour bans unlicensed preachers from delivering religious sermons and restricts preaching in mosques, and in public spaces used as mosques, to employees of the Ministry of Religious Endowments (Waqfs) and of Al-Azhar. It will effectively exclude Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist clerics from preaching. Al-Sisi stressed in his inauguration speech on 8 June that “religious discourse is in desperate need of reform and Al-Azhar must shoulder its responsibilities and stand up to clerics who issue extremist religious fatwas that tarnish the image of tolerant Islam”. Individuals violating the law can face up to one year in jail and a fine of up to LE50,000. The law follows moves last March by Minister of Religious Endowments Mokhtar Gomaa to place all mosques and side-street praying areas (zawaya) under his ministry's control and ban non-governmental institutions from collecting money in mosques. Officials said the Muslim Brotherhood had exploited mosques to collect money to fund its activities, spread militant Jihadist ideology and recruit members. Mansour also signed a new anti-sexual harassment law. It imposes a minimum sentence of six-months and fines of LE3,000 to LE5,000 on those found guilty of harassment. Repeat offenders will face a minimum of one year in jail and a fine of up to LE10,000. Stricter penalties will apply to those who abuse their authority in family, work or education settings in order to harass: jail sentences can then extend to five years and fines to LE50,000. Mansour also passed a law paving the way for a temporary five per cent tax increase on individuals earning more than LE1 million and on company profits in excess of that amount. The five per cent increase will apply for three years.
