Egypt’s new parliament is preparing for its first session on Monday, just two days after the final results of the multi-stage elections were released, marking the first tentative step toward civilian rule since the ouster of long-time dictator Hosni Mubarak.
The new parliament will be made up of two large, albeit extremely different, Islamist factions alongside several smaller liberal factions. The largest party, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), holds 47 percent of the seats, just shy of a majority.
The first day’s session will see an extremely temporary six-party coalition affirming the FJP’s victory, and appointing FJP leader Saad al-Katatni as the new speaker of parliament. The job of forming a government, however, will not happen any time soon.
That’s because the “interim” military junta will continue to rule the nation through at least June’s presidential election, and has already provided some indications that they won’t allow parliament to follow through with any serious changes that threaten their rule.
