As the People's Assembly embarks on its first session, Gamal Essam El-Din previews the likely agenda Following President Hosni Mubarak's inaugural speech on Sunday and a procedural sitting last week during which Fathi Sorour was re-elected speaker the newly-elected People's Assembly got down to business, grappling with a host of controversial issues. Though Sorour's re-election was a foregone conclusion the newly-elected People's Assembly -- dominated by the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) -- was faced with a change in the chairmanship of 20 out of 29 parliamentary committees after the outgoing heads did not return as MPs. As expected, NDP business tycoons received the lion's share of senior committee postings. Ahmed Ezz, NDP secretary for organisational affairs and chairman of the influential Budget Committee since 2000, was re-elected, as was industrialist Mohamed Abul-Enein, member of the NDP's secretariat-general and chairman of the Industry and Energy Committee since 2000. Tarek Talaat Mustafa, a construction magnate and chairman of the Housing Committee since 2005 was also re-elected. The remaining committee posts were dominated by NDP MPs. The number of the People's Assembly deputies now stands at 512 rather than 518. The results of the ballot in four seats in the Nile-Delta governorate of Kafr Al-Sheikh has been delayed because of suspicion of electoral fraud while two newly-elected MPs -- the veteran Tagammu Party deputy Mohamed Abdel-Aziz Shaaban and the veteran NDP Badr El-Qadi, a former police officer, have died. The NDP controls 420 -- around 84 per cent -- of seats in the new assembly, excluding the 53 independents who were originally NDP members but contested the elections away from the party ticket. The opposition won just 15 -- less than three per cent -- of seats, four for the leftist Tagammu, seven for the liberal-oriented Wafd, with four small parties holding one seat each. When the Wafd Party decided to freeze the membership of its seven deputies the quota of opposition seats dropped to just eight. The assembly also includes 17 independents with no obvious political affiliations. Magdi Ashour, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, won a seat as an independent. Subsequently his membership of the outlawed group was frozen. The number of prominent businessmen in the newly- elected People's Assembly may be up from 30 to 35 but they are outnumbered by former policemen, up from 23 to 50. The latter include Fadi Al-Habashi, former chief of the State Security Authority, and Farouk El-Mikrahi, a former assistant to the Interior Minister. In its meeting yesterday the People's Assembly closed the door on appeals contesting the legal status of deputies. Sorour disclosed that 2,000 appeals contesting the status of newly-elected deputies had been received since 5 December. Under the constitution the assembly must refer these appeals to the Court of Cassation for investigation within 15 days. Under Article 93 of the constitution the Court of Cassation must complete its investigation of appeals within 90 days. The final say, however, rests with the assembly itself, with a two thirds majority of MPs sufficient to ensure a contested deputy retains his seat. Rulings over the status of candidates issued by the Administrative Justice Courts (AJC) ahead of the elections present a much bigger headache for the new assembly. The Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) has already announced that questions over the constitutionality of the newly-elected People's Assembly will remain as long as the Interior Ministry refuses to implement AJC judgments. Addressing parliament on 19 December President Hosni Mubarak identified a number of drafts to be debated in the first session. "Most of the draft legislation is aimed at safeguarding the poor against the vagaries of the market economy, fighting corruption and reinforcing decentralisation," Mubarak said. He indicated that the new health insurance law top parliament's agenda of debates. "This draft law aims to extend state-funded health insurance to cover millions of limited-income families and help improve health services." Mubarak urged deputies "to discuss the sources of funding of the suggested comprehensive health insurance in order not to overburden the state budget". Mubarak also indicated that a new draft law aimed at decentralising local administration --"necessary to rationalise the limited financial resources of local councils, improve public services and hold local administration officials accountable before mini-parliaments in the different provinces" -- will be submitted to the assembly in its first session. Two other laws aimed at fighting corruption will also be debated. "The first ," said Mubarak, "is designed to regulate the utilisation of state-owned land" while the second will regulate civil service employment in a manner that creates "discipline in government ministries, improves performance, and combats administrative corruption". Some independent observers fear that the assembly's legislative agenda will promote the interests of the wealthy at the expense of the poor. "Given that business tycoons dominate the ruling NDP and the People's Assembly one can expect laws that serve the interests of wealthy investors and the private sector rather than the under-privileged," says Al-Ahram analyst Wahid Abdel-Meguid.
