The first post-revolution parliament promises a rough sail, writes Gamal Essam El-Din The opening procedural session of the newly-elected parliament began by divisions over whether the transfer of power to a civilian president should be next April or June. Although the opening session of the newly-elected parliament was generally celebratory, it was marred by divisions over the issue of when power should be transferred to a civilian president. Two-thirds of the assembly's members -- mostly Islamists -- heaped praise on the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) for its role in safeguarding the 25 January Revolution from the remnants of the former regime of ex-president Hosni Mubarak. Saad El-Katatni, the newly-elected speaker of the assembly began with an introductory note: "Many thanks to the great Egyptian army and for SCAF which lived up to its promise of conducting fair and transparent parliamentary elections." El-Katatni also thanked SCAF for safeguarding the three-stage election process against any subversive acts. "Let me on behalf of all my colleagues in parliament offer thanks to soldiers, officers and individuals of the great Egyptian army who cooperated with the central security forces to safeguard the electoral process," El-Katatni said. Deputies of the Salafist Nour Party also heaped praise on SCAF, thanking the army generals for putting the Egyptian revolution on a safe track. Before proceeding with the oath- swearing, MPs also stood up to applaud SCAF's role in the transition process but a number of MPs, including independents, refused to take part. SCAF chairman Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi did not attend the gathering, as parliamentary protocol dictates that only the chief executive attends the joint session of parliament's two houses -- the parliament and the Shura Council -- to deliver an opening address. But Tantawi vowed that the army would continue on the path of transferring power to a civilian government and an elected president on 30 June. In a letter to the parliament on Monday night, Tantawi said "SCAF fulfilled its promise of electing a new parliament in a free and transparent election and looks forward to completing the task of transferring power to an elected civilian president on 30 June." A group of liberal-oriented MPs, however, submitted a request asking the assembly to begin negotiating with the SCAF on the issue of transferring power. "We want a parliamentary committee to be tasked with negotiating with SCAF about a new roadmap on the two issues of presidential elections and drafting the constitution," the request stated. Liberal MPs, including political analyst Amr Hamzawy and cultural activist Mohamed El-Sawi also asked for abrogating the 30-year-old state of emergency and eliminating the referral of civilians to military tribunals. They also asked for trying officials who were involved in killing protesters since the army took over on 11 February last year. Ziad El-Oleimi, a member of the liberal Egyptian Bloc, told the assembly on Tuesday that "the minister of defence should be investigated if he had a hand in the killings which took place after 11 February 2011." The majority of MPs, however, agreed on the necessity of forming a fact- finding committee to act as a parliamentary court for politically trying the former president Mubarak and his ex- regime's officials. They also asked for compensating the families of the victims of the 25 January Revolution. Many members demanded that Mubarak be executed in a public square. "Mubarak must not be allowed to stay in the International Medical Centre and be transferred to Tora prison south Cairo, Saad Aboud, a leftist MP, said. Aboud also lashed at the intelligence apparatus for failing to grant prosecutors adequate information about the killings during the 18-day revolt that brought the regime down. Several MPs agreed that the major task of parliament at the present time was to retaliate against Mubarak and secure the rights of those killed and wounded in the revolution. On Monday, El-Katatni began his opening address by stating that "we will never betray our martyrs' blood". In El-Katatni's words "we will not rest until the revolution achieves all of its goals." Akram El-Shaer, a Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) MP, wept while speaking about his son who was seriously injured on 28 January, dubbed the Friday of Anger. El-Shaer said although he received many promises of his son being treated for free, none of those vows were kept. In the parliament's opening session on 23 January, El-Katatni was elected the seventh parliamentary speaker of Egypt since 1971 after he won 399 out of 496 votes. This was followed by a round of applause from the deputies of the Muslim Brotherhood's party. El-Katatni's two main rivals Essam Sultan and Youssef El-Badri received 87 and 10 votes respectively. Before El-Katatni was elected speaker and in accordance with parliamentary regulations, the oldest MP, Wafdist and constitutional law expert Mahmoud El-Sakka, served as the chair for the inaugural session. El-Sakka began by asking MPs to stand for a moment of silence as an expression of respect for the victims of the revolution. The election of the parliamentary speaker saw a spate of verbal clashes. Sultan insisted that each of the nominees be granted two minutes to explain himself to deputies. Sultan's request led to a verbal clash with FJP deputy Mohamed El-Beltagui who insisted that the request went against parliamentary regulations. El-Sakka, unable to control the clash, proposed a vote on whether nominees be allowed to explain themselves and give speeches. But Sultan and several other MPs rejected the suggestion on grounds that the majority should not restrict the nominees' rights to present themselves. Eventually, the FJP lost the battle, and El-Sakka allowed each nominee one minute to give a brief explanation about himself. Days before the scheduled inaugural session of the parliament, El-Katatni decided to resign from his position as secretary-general of the FJP. El-Katatni said the parliamentary elections were a "hard test in which the Egyptian people proved that they are highly capable of exercising democracy. This in spite of allegations by Mubarak's officials that the Egyptian people were not mature enough for democracy," said El-Katatni. The first session also saw other commotion. During the swearing-in ceremony, a number of Salafi MPs such as Mamdouh Ismail, a lawyer representing the Salafist Asala Party, insisted on violating the oath. Ismail, for example, qualified his oath with, "if not in contradiction with Islamic Sharia [law]," instead of saying "I swear I respect the law, the constitution and the republican system." El-Sakka objected, arguing that this went against regulations. Following a brief disturbance in the session, Ismail eventually repeated the oath in its entirety, without improvising but tacking on the statement in a postscript as a "personal opinion". Ismail's deviation, however, was repeated several times in the long oath- taking process, as other parliamentarians added snippets of religious or revolutionary rhetoric to their oaths -- all to El-Sakka's dismay. Microphones were cut off after the end of each oath. Some MPs circumvented the censorship by adding their extra lines before reading their oaths. El-Sakka announced following the swearing-in that all impromptu phrases will be omitted from the minutes of the session. He also took the time to explain the insignificance of the added phrases. Several MPs wore yellow sashes bearing the slogan "No to military trials" during the session, in a sign of protest against the ruling SCAF's policy of summarily referring civilians to military courts. Outside the parliamentary chamber, there was a heavy security presence. Four separate marches headed to the parliamentary building to voice a number of complaints. Artists, workers, injured protesters, relatives of slain protesters and campaigners marched to the parliamentary headquarters to stress their demands and to reiterate the purposes of the revolution. The marchers, however, could not reach the headquarters due to barbed wire barricades at the entrance of the street and the heavy presence of central security forces. Also hundreds of FJP and Nour Party supporters held a vigil in Falaki Street, bearing signs supporting the parliament's legitimacy and swearing to protect Islamist MPs from any attacks. One of the FJP supporters said, "We are here to protect Islamist MPs from any acts of thuggery." Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the parliament building chanted the revolution's tripartite motto: "Bread, freedom and social justice." Meanwhile, security forces attempted to prevent marchers from approaching the complex to present their revolutionary demands to the newly elected MPs. El-Oleimi, a leading member of the Revolution's Youth Coalition (RYC), vowed to ensure the fulfillment of revolutionary demands and defend the "blood of the martyrs" before taking the standard oath. His remarks were met with applause. The Chains of the Revolution campaign listed their demands on miniature flags and formed a large circle in front of the parliament building. Among the demands were parliamentary oversight of the government, the cleansing of the country from corruption and improving media and education. Some flags read "Down with military rule". It was then that a large number of Islamist deputies left the session, led by Mamdouh Ismail, a lawyer representing the Salafist Asala (Authenticity) Party, to perform midday prayers. Some Nour MPs stated while being issued their parliamentary membership cards that they would demand the adjournment of parliamentary sessions during prayers which in Islam are five a day. Elections for the assembly began in late November stretching over three staggered stages until 11 January. The FJP brought in 235 deputies (47.2 per cent), followed by the Nour Party with 121 deputies (23 per cent). The parliament, whose elections many observers home and abroad considered was the cleanest and most democratic since the 1950s, will be responsible along with the Shura Council for appointing a constituent assembly that will draft Egypt's new constitution.
