Egypt's parliament meets after more than three-year absence

Jan 11, 2016 Egypt’s new parliament recently held its opening session since being elected into office.

While taking the oath of office, one of the parliamentarians, Hassan Omar Mohamed Hassanein said:

 “I swear to God, the great, that I will faithfully protect the republican regime, and that I will respect the constitution and law and that I will completely attend to people’s needs and that I will protect the country’s independence and the unity and peace of its lands.”

Egypt’s last parliament was elected in 2011-12 in the country’s first free vote following a popular uprising that ended autocrat Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule.

But a court dissolved that parliament in mid-2012 after ruling that the election laws at the time were unconstitutional.

The new parliament, which is dominated by an alliance loyal to President Sisi, has 568 elected members plus another 28 appointed directly by him.