The Egyptian parliament's Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee failed on Sunday to convene a long-delayed meeting to decide on the outstanding issue of implementing a court order to seat MP-elect Amr El-Shobaky due to the absence of deputy speaker El-Sayed El-Sharif.
In July, the Court of Cassation ruled that El-Shobaky was the real winner of the December 2015 parliamentary elections for the Dokki and Agouza district in Cairo instead of Ahmed Mortada Mansour, who was initially announced as the winner before El-Shobaky appealed the vote count.
El-Shobaky, a political analyst and chief consultant at the Ahram Centre for Strategic and Political Studies, said to Ahram Online that the committee has repeatedly delayed holding a meeting to implement the court order.
“My lawyer, Essam El-Eslamboly, told me a week ago that a meeting would be held today and that the court decision should be implemented before the end of November,” El-Shobaky said.
El-Shobaky blamed the delays on what he described as “grandstanding in the house and parliament's disrespect for the judiciary's decisions,” saying he would consider legal action against the house.
Around 100 public figures have signed a petition calling on the parliament to end all “procrastinations” in seating El-Shobaki and respect the decisions of the country's highest court and the articles of the constitution.
The signatories said that El-Shobaki's case should not be looked on by parliament as an internal matter, but as an issue “of concern to all citizens” to ensure faith in the political system.
The statement has been signed by prominent politicians, former government officials, academics, parliament deputies, journalists, members of various political parties, and activists.
Article 107 of the constitution stipulates that the Court of Cassation has the final say on appeals filed against the results of parliamentary elections.
In August, both the Egyptian Social Democratic Party and the Wafd Party issued statements in solidarity with the constitutional right of El-Shobaky to be seated in parliament, describing the delay as disrespect to the law and constitution.
