On the edge

Rami Lakah's parliamentary membership has been declared null and void on the grounds that he has dual nationality. Omayma Abdel-Latif examines the implications for other MPs in similar situations
Toeing the line of the Court of Cassation, the nation's highest judicial authority, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled on Monday that the parliamentary membership of businessman Rami Lakah is null and void because he has dual citizenship. The Court of Cassation had ruled earlier that citizens with dual nationality should be barred from contesting general elections. The Supreme Administrative Court's decision, described by some observers as historic, ended months of haggling over the validity of Lakah's parliamentary membership. Lakah, who holds Egyptian and French passports, is also mired in severe financial problems and is said to owe banks millions of pounds. He is out of the country currently, and is believed to be in Europe.
Peoples' Assembly sources welcomed the Supreme Administrative Court's decision, vowing to take action accordingly. Speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly, Mohamed Moussa, chairman of the Assembly's Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee, said that the assembly respects the rulings handed down by courts of law. "This is a final ruling which cannot be contested or appealed," Moussa explained. Consequently, he went on, parliament is bound to respect it and implement it.
According to Moussa, the assembly's 26- member Constitutional and Legislative Committee will have to convene, prepare a report on the ruling and present it to the plenary assembly. This will only take place at the start of the new parliamentary session in November. The assembly will then put the matter to a vote and a two-thirds majority is required for the annulment of Lakah's membership.
A day before the ruling was handed down, Assembly Speaker Fathi Sorour stated that "any court rulings on the validity of parliamentary membership are binding." Sorour said that once the assembly is notified of such rulings, it will take action to implement them.
The Supreme Administrative Court's ruling raised questions about the fate of other MPs who hold dual citizenship but whose parliamentary membership has not been nullified to date. There are 22 MPs who appear set to loose their seats for a variety of reasons. Of this number, at least five are said to have dual nationality. Moussa said that the assembly will not invoke the Supreme Administrative Court's ruling against deputies other than Lakah, preferring to make it a case-by-case issue. "We will have to have court rulings against the validity of the membership of other MPs, if we are to vote them out of the assembly. I don't think that the assembly will use the ruling against Lakah as a general principle to be applied to other MPs who hold dual citizenship," Moussa told the Weekly.
Such a procedure is likely to cause controversy. Responding to Moussa's remarks, Mohammed Hamed El-Gamal, former head of the State Council, told the Weekly that the assembly should decide on the validity of membership of other MPs who hold dual citizenship without waiting for a court ruling against each of them. "The rulings of the Supreme Administrative Court are final and should serve as binding judicial principles," El- Gamal argued. The assembly should invoke the Supreme Administrative Court's ruling against all MPs with dual citizenship, and not only Lakah. "All cases should be examined by the assembly's Legislative Committee which should submit reports to the plenary assembly and then their membership is annulled," El- Gamal added. He went as far as to suggest that authorities should investigate the cases of cabinet ministers, deputy ministers and governors who hold dual citizenship and that they, too, should be forced to resign from office.
Zakariya Shalash, head of the Court of Cassation, argued that the ruling should be implemented immediately. "There is no need to put it to a vote in the assembly. It is no longer a case of validity of membership. It is a court ruling that must be implemented," Shalash said. He added that the assembly, in accordance with Article 96 of the Constitution and Article 5 of its own statutes, has the jurisdiction to vote out other MPs who have dual nationality. Some analysts expressed fears that if the court ruling was not implemented as a general rule, forcing Lakah out of the assembly would be interpreted as "a political move." This would also lend credence to claims made by Lakah last week in a magazine interview in which he accused Sorour of acting to rescind his parliamentary immunity under the influence of personal ties. According to Shalash, the assembly has come under heavy criticism recently for ignoring court orders against the validity of the membership of many MPs on the grounds that the assembly is the "master of its own decision."
Following the 2000 parliamentary elections, the Supreme Administrative Court invalidated the membership of 22 deputies for various reasons. The head of the Court of Cassation explained that the court is currently examining 300-400 appeals contesting the validity of the membership of nearly 200 MPs. The court has already issued rulings nullifying the membership of nearly 40 MPs.
Recommend this page
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
Send a letter to the Editor