Preparations for parliamentary elections begin in Egypt

President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi issued a decree on Tuesday 15 July creating an electoral commission to oversee the upcoming parliamentary elections. This is in keeping with his statement last month indicating that the procedures for parliamentary elections, the first step of which is the appointment of an electoral commission, would take place before 18 July.

The commission will be formed of the head of the Court of Appeals and the eldest members of the Court of Cassation. Its formation indicates that we should expect to hear an announcement regarding the timing of elections in the next week or two. 

The vote is still expected to be held in mid to late-September, as the government is keen on completing a full transition to an elected government and it is very likely that several draft laws are being held up until a parliament is in place to approve them.

In a development that could have a significant impact on the shape of the next parliament, the Cairo Court of Appeals has overturned a ban placed on members of the now defunct National Democratic Party (NDP), which had been headed by former president Hosni Mubarak, from participating in political life. 

The new ruling means that any former NDP member of parliament may run again in the next election cycle (those convicted of crimes in the last three years will still be banned from running), and it is particularly significant given that the new parliamentary electoral law, which has been heavily criticised by the country’s political parties, heavily favours individual candidate districts.

Former members of parliament will now find it easier to run in the constituencies they had once held, as they will not be required to join a political party (most of whom have shunned former NDP members) to compete in individual districts. 

It should be noted that while previous bans failed to prevent many NDP members from running in the 2011 parliamentary elections, they performed poorly against Muslim Brotherhood candidates, who have been banned from taking part in political life.

For more news and expert analysis about Egypt, please see Egypt Politics & Security.

© 2014 Menas Associates

Another new oil minister in Yemen

Ahmed Abdul Qader Shayyeh, who was appointed minister of oil and minerals in early June, resigned a few days later on health grounds, suggesting that the process of consulting him may have gone wrong. A new minister has now been appointed, having received a phone call from President Abd Rubuh Hadi while in London.

He is Hussein Rashid Jamal Alkaff. Alkaff is well known in oil circles in Yemen and the region, as he was a deputy minister of oil in the last years of the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen and held the same position in the first years of unity. He subsequently became CEO of Al-Nimr, a private Saudi oil company owned by the Bin Mahfouz family, who are of Yemeni origin.

For the last few years, Alkaff has functioned as a consultant on Middle East oil, and he and his sons are the owners of Sahra Petroleum, a London- and Sana’a-based oil, gas and mining services company.

He is widely respected in the sector and has provided advice on oil policy to the government and the National Dialogue Conference. He is not a political figure, however, and has no independent power apart from through the now limited prestige of the Al-Kaff Sayyids.

For more news and expert analysis about Yemen, please see Yemen Focus.

© 2014 Menas Associates

More anti-government protests in Yemen

Anti-government protestors and supporters of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh have clashed in violent attacks in Taiz, south of Sana'a. Reports have emerged that police fired arms into the air in order to disperse the crowds, but was unable to do so.

The demonstrations, inspired by those sweeping the Middle East, have been going on sporadically for a couple of weeks. During an uprising in the capital, protestors outside Sana'a University chanted, "Hey Ali, get out, get out…There is no solution except to leave."

Police intervened in the protest by building a wall between the two groups of demonstrators, consisting of 500 anti-government protesters and 100 supporters of Saleh. Anti-government protestors have been going strong in recent weeks, attracting as many as tens of thousands of people.

In order to appease the increasingly discontented public, Saleh offered significant concessions, including a pledge to step down in 2013. But, the protests seem far from over as the last couple of days confrontations between the two groups turned violent and saw rival members beating each other with batons and fists.

Police intervention has been reported to be unnecessary brutal, and liberal in its use of electroshock tasers. Voicing her concerns, Human Rights Watch Middle East and North Africa director Sarah Leah Whitson, confirmed that, “government security forces brutally beat and tasered peaceful demonstrators” without provocation.

Sources: Reuters, BBC News, New York Post, PA

For more news and expert analysis about Yemen, please see Yemen Focus.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says most people believe the US responsible for 9/11 attacks

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said most people believe the US government to be responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York Ahmadinejad claimed that the US government had orchestrated the 9/11 attacks to tighten its loosening grip on the Middle East.

The US and other Western delegations walked out in protest during the speech. However, that did not deter the Iranian leader as he moved on to say that the sanctions against Iran were unjust and ineffective, and added he was ready for the annual public dialogue with the US president.

Reiterating Iran's denial of its nuclear programme Ahmadinejad said some members of the UN Security Council had, "equated nuclear energy with nuclear bombs,” and added that 2011 should be the year of nuclear disarmament.

Addressing the General Assembly, Ahmadinejad said it was mostly US government officials and statesmen who believed that Al-Qa'ida militants carried out the 2001 attacks on the US. He said it was universally believed, "that some segments within the US government orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining American economy, and its grips on the Middle East, in order to save the Zionist regime” and that the “majority of the American people as well as most nations and politicians around the world agree with this view".

Source: BBC News

For more news and expert analysis about Iran, please see Iran Strategic Focus.