Egyptian parliament accepts the resignation of 14 members

The Egyptian parliament yesterday agreed to accept the resignation of 14 of its members who had escaped military service duty.

Two other parliamentarians, who also escaped military service, refused to give their resignation and the Egyptian parliament is due to meet today to drop the two men membership, according to a parliamentary source. The 16 parliamentarians belong to the ruling democratic national party which enjoys a greater majority in the parliament.

On November 3rd, the higher administrative court refused the case filed by 15 parliamentarians, members in the ruling national party in October 2002 and appealed as not constitutional several legal items concerning the parliament, especially the article which state the need of the parliamentarians performance of military service.

This issues was debated in 2001 when an Egyptian citizen complained against a parliamentarian accusing him of not performing military service. A comprehensive investigation was made covering all parliamentarians and it was found out that many of them did not perform military service.

The military service period in Egypt is ranging between one to three years and young people who get higher qualifications get just one year military service.

On the other hand, the Egyptian parliament elected unanimously Ahmed Fathi Sorour as a chairman for the new parliamentary session which extends until July 2004 while the former minister of social affairs and labor Amal Osman and Sayyed Rashed were re-elected as Deputy Speakers of the Assembly.