On Monday a parliamentary committee, headed by Deputy Speaker Al-Sayed Al-Sherif, annulled Ahmed Mortada Mansour's membership of the House of Representatives. He will be replaced by Amr Al-Shobaki as MP for the Giza governorate district of Dokki and Agouza districts. The Court of Cassation cancelled Mansour's election in July, declaring Shobaki the legitimate winner of the seat. Ruling on an appeal filed by Al-Shobaki against the initial election results, the court said that a second vote count showed Al-Shobaki had received 21,898 votes against Mansour's 21,597. Al-Sherif told reporters on Monday that parliament had taken time to examine the court ruling time “because we wanted to make sure that our actions were constitutional and avoid any further appeals over the result”. The Committee of Constitutional and Legislative Affairs first examined the court ruling in July but after three months had still failed to reach a conclusion. After the committee divided into two opposing camps its chairman, Bahaeddin Abu Shoqa referred the matter to Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel-Aal who established a committee, led by Al-Sherif, to review the Court of Cassation ruling. Ahmed Mansour, a member of the Free Egyptians Party and son of Mortada Mansour, the controversial MP and Zamalek Club president, was initially declared the winner in Dokki and Agouza with a majority of 700 votes. Al-Sherif said parliament was keen to implement the Court of Cassation ruling to show “MPs respect of court rulings and unwillingness to intervene in judicial affair”. The court's Dokki ruling was referred to parliament in July, in accordance with Article 107 of the constitution. Parliamentary regulations stipulate that Cassation Court rulings on election appeals are first discussed by the Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee. “The committee has the final say on each ruling after holding hearings and allowing the MPs in question to defend themselves,” says Article 386 of the House of Representatives' bylaws. Al-Shobaki told TV channels and newspapers on Sunday that some committee members had contacted him by phone and promised the issue would be settled by Monday. He added that if parliament chose to continue ignore the court ruling it would place itself in violation of the constitution. Al-Shobaki, a political analyst at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies (ACPSS) who served as the MP for Dokki following the 2015 elections, told reporters the committee had dragged its feet over convening a meeting necessary to implement the court order. He blamed the delays on “grandstanding in the house and parliament's disrespect for judicial decisions” and at one point threatened legal action against parliament. Leading public figures backed Al-Shobaki, signing a petition demanding parliament stop its “procrastinations” over implementing the decision of Egypt's highest court and applying the constitution. The signatories said that if it ignored the ruling in Al-Shobaki's case parliament would be acting to undermine public faith in the political system. The statement was signed by politicians, former government officials, academics, parliament deputies, journalists, members of parties from across the political spectrum and activists. Al-Shobaki hailed the committee's ruling as “a victory for the constitution and for the law”. Mohamed Al-Seweidi, chairman of the pro-regime Support Egypt parliamentary bloc told reporters on Monday morning that “it is a positive step that parliament has respected the final court ruling”. “As a bloc we repeatedly pressed for the Al-Shobaki verdict to be implemented as soon as possible.” The committee's recommendation has yet to be debated in a plenary session but a large number of MPs and political parties have already publicly stated they will back the move to seat Al-Shobaki in the house.
