Egyptian parliament speaker elected

Saad al-Katatni has been elected as speaker of the Egyptian parliament.(File Photo

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/222670.html

The Muslim Brotherhood's Saad al-Katatni has been elected as speaker of the first post-revolution parliament in Egypt.

On Monday, Katatni won 399 votes out of 496 in the first session of the lower assembly, held two days before the first anniversary of the Egyptian revolution.

With 47.18 percent, Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the political wing of Muslim Brotherhood, the biggest political party in the country, secured the biggest share of seats in the recently-concluded general elections.

The country's new parliament will also elect a 100-strong body with the task of drafting a new constitution.

The party, which was officially banned under Mubarak's authoritarian rule, has pledged to guide Egypt on the path towards the transition of power to a civilian government.

Over the past months protesters have been staging mass demonstrations, calling on the ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces to hand over power to a civilian authority, accusing it of moving against the country's revolution by using violence against civilians.

SCAF took over after the ouster of the former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak in a popular revolution in January 2011.