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Egyptian Government and Political systemEgypt has been a presidency since the 23rd July revolution led by Gamal Abd El Nasser in 1952 when the Free Army Officers' movement overthrew the current regime then and expelled king Farouk who has been known as the king of Egypt and Sudan and backed by the British occupation. The first Egyptian president in 1953 was Mohamed Naguib who has been a general in the army. Nasser was the second president of Egypt in 1954. Hosny Mubarak is the current Egyptian president elected in 1981 after the assassination of late president Anwar Sadat. Until 2005 The constitution of Egypt put the rules of selecting a president every 6 years by selecting a candidate by the Egyptian parliament or people's assembly's two thirds of members then holding a public referendum for people to vote for the selected candidate but in May 2005 a new article in the constitution ( article 76 ) set the rules of electing a President by public vote for candidates who get support of 250 of elected members of parliament or other elected bodies. Also political parties can present a candidate with no need for the support of parliament members. The last election held was in 7 September 2005 and Hosny Mubarak won by more than 85% of the votes. There are three main Authorities in Egypt as stated by the Egyptian constitution :
The President chooses the prime minister who heads the government and selects members of the governments (Ministers) and the president should approve his selection for the government to start its assignments as dictated by the president. The president as stated by the constitution is the supreme commander of the Egyptian armed forces and he has the authority to choose the General commander of the Egyptian army. The parliament or Peoples' assembly as it is described in the constitution consists of 444 members elected by the people in a public election every 5 years in addition to 10 members at most assigned by the president. There is no need to be a member of a political party in order to be a candidate in the election although there are over 15 political parties in Egypt. National party (Al Watany) is the ruling party currently holding the majority in the parliament The Judicial authority is not controlled by the government as the constitution states. It is a self governing body to avoid being manipulated by the political powers and ensures that justice is not affected by the political streams. In fact Egyptian judges are well known for their integrity and justice. To have more information about the Egyptian political system go to the following websites :
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