The two leading Islamist parties have taken over most committee positions in the new People's Assembly, reports Gamal Essam El-Din The two main Islamist parties -- the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) and the Salafist Nour Party -- have clinched leading posts in 15 of the 19 committees in the new People's Assembly, the lower house of the Egyptian parliament. Some 12 Freedom and Justice Party MPs were elected the chairs of committees, with Essam El-Erian, deputy chair of the party, being elected chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Saad El-Husseini, a member of the Brotherhood's Guidance Office and a former MP, chair of the Budget and Planning Committee, and retired major-general Abbas Mikhimar chair of the influential Defence and National Security Committee. Other Freedom and Justice Party MPs were also elected committee chairs. Tarek El-Dessouki was elected chair of the Economic Affairs Committee, Saber Abul-Fotouh of the Manpower Committee, El-Sayed Nigida of the Industry Committee, El-Sayed Askar of the Religious and Social Affairs Committee, Akram El-Shaer of the Health and Environmental Affairs Committee, Sabri Amer of the Transport and Telecommunications Committee, Ibrahim Abu Ouf of the Housing Committee, Saber Abdel-Sadek of the Local Administration Committee and Osama Yassin of the Youth Affairs Committee. Three MPs belonging to the Salafist Nour Party were elected chairs of committees, these including Complaints and Proposals (Talaat Mtzouk), Agriculture and Irrigation (Mahmoud Heiba), and Education (Shaaban Anwar). Non-Islamist MPs were elected the chairs of a mere four committees, including Mahmoud El-Khodeiri of Constitutional and Legislative Affairs, Mohamed Anwar El-Sadat of Human Rights, Mohamed El-Sawy of Culture, Tourism and Media, and Mohamed El-Said Idris of Arab Affairs. The liberal-oriented Wafd Party decided to withdraw from the committee elections in protest at the Islamists dominating most of the posts. At the same time, prime minister Kamal El-Ganzouri delivered his first speech to the newly-elected People's Assembly on Tuesday, using the occasion to defend himself against accusations of collaboration with the regime of ousted former president Hosni Mubarak. El-Ganzouri, who was also prime minister in the 1990s, said that he had always opposed the interests of the Mubarak inner circle and had refused to implement policies associated with the former ruling National Democratic Party. "I refused to accompany Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu during his visit to Egypt at that time," El-Ganzouri said, emphasising his desire to see symbols of the former regime brought to justice. "It is not just a question of ensuring financial compensation for the victims of the revolution," El-Ganzouri said. "It is also a matter of seeing that members of the former regime are brought to justice and that the victims' rights are observed." Meanwhile, Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim Youssef said that there was still a need for the emergency laws to be in place in Egypt, given the effective role they were playing in "preventing crimes by thugs". Youssef said that some 4,500 prisoners were still at large following the 25 January Revolution. Minister of Justice Adel Abdel-Hamid criticised US ambassador in Cairo Ann Patterson for sending him a letter "objecting to the decision to prevent certain Americans from leaving the country." Abdel-Hamid said that officials at the American embassy had subsequently "apologised for the letter, saying that they were not aware of the correct procedures." Left-wing MP Mustafa Bakri attacked Patterson for intervening in Egypt's internal affairs in objecting to the decision to prevent the Americans from leaving the country. "These people were involved in cases relating to human rights organisations obtaining money from foreign sources," Bakri said. For his part, the new speaker of the People's Assembly, Saad El-Katatni, emphasised that "the People's Assembly cannot accept the intervention of the American ambassador in Egyptian internal affairs."
