Egypt’s newly elected House of Representatives convened on Monday for its opening session, after weeks of controversy surrounding the integrity of the parliamentary election process that began late last year.
The session, called by presidential decree and announced by the Egyptian Cabinet on Monday morning, marks the start of the new assembly's work as members took the constitutional oath of office.
Veteran politician Abla El Hawary presided over the session, as the oldest member present – becoming the first woman to lead proceedings in the 160-year history of the Egyptian Parliament.
Ms El Hawary supervised the swearing in of 596 members and oversaw the election of the assembly's speaker and two deputies.
The MPs elected Hesham Badawy, one of 28 assembly members personally appointed by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, as Speaker.
Mr Badawy previously headed the Egypt's Accountability State Authority and had a career in the judiciary.
Ms El Hawary's temporary leadership role, although procedural, carried symbolic weight, particularly as she was flanked by two women on the podium during Monday’s session.
Serving as deputies for the opening session were the house’s youngest MPs, Samia El Hadidi and Saja Hindi, underscoring what Ms El Hawary described as a “new era” for women’s representation.
Under constitutional quotas, 25 per cent of seats are reserved for women.
The assembly's internal procedures call for the most senior member to lead proceedings at the start of a new term, assisted by the two youngest members, until a speaker and two deputies are elected.
Monday’s proceedings follow months of bitter dispute over an election marred by allegations of corruption and irregularities.
Egypt’s Supreme Administrative Court in November annulled results in 28 constituencies, with scrutiny of a vote already clouded by claims of vote‑buying and tampering intensifying.
The court, the country’s highest authority for electoral disputes, acted on hundreds of appeals filed by candidates and observers. Election officials found “substantial defects” including inconsistent vote counts and failures to provide official tallies to candidates.
At a press conference on Saturday, the chairman of the country’s election authority, Judge Hazem Badawy, said overall voter turnout stood at 32.4 per cent, with 22.6 million votes cast out of nearly 69.9 million registered voters. Of these, 21.1 million ballots were deemed valid.
The new parliament has 596 members, including the 28 appointed directly by the Mr El Sisi. The list announced on Saturday includes former senior officials such as former foreign minister Sameh Shoukry, former higher education minister Ashraf El Shihy and former housing minister Assem El Gazzar.
Other notable names included constitutional scholar Salah Fawzi and former head of the State Council Adel Aziz.
Half of the members appointed by Mr El Sisi are women.
