Government Structure of Egypt

On July 23, 1952, Revolution Day, Nasser and the Free Officers overthrew the monarchy. Coup leader Gamal Abdel Nasser became the president in 1956 and ruled until his death in 1970 (Shehata). All political parties were banned and Nasser's regime took direct control over all civil-society organizations in exchange for state funded social and welfare services and subsidies (Shehata). In the mid-1970s, President Anwar al-Sadat began to liberalize the political system, allowing opposition parties and movements to gain some representation in the country's elected assemblies (Shehata). Vice-President Hosni Mubarak assumed power after Sadat's assassination (Lee). Mubarak violated Sadat's agreement by restricting the ability of political parties and movements to organize and to contest elections. Further, Mubarak's regime manipulated the 2010 parliamentary elections in order to "ensure a smooth succession from Mubarak to his son Gamal during the upcoming presidential election in 2011" (Shehata). These issues were front and center during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. The movement supported by millions of Egyptian citizens resulted in the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak after thirty years of leadership.

Following Mubarak's resignation in 2011, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces assumed Executive power, dissolving the parliament and suspending the constitution (Fahmy). The President of the Arab Republic of Egypt is the head of state. Under the former Constitution of Egypt, the president is also the supreme commander of the armed forces and head of the executive branch of the Egyptian government (Egypt). The national legislature is bicameral, with no less than 350 directly elected members in the lower house and no less than 250 members in the upper house. Members of parliament serve a five-year term and the president has the power to appoint additional members up to 10% of the elected total. The last parliamentary election took place between November 2011 and February 2012. As the political instability continued, the lower house and the upper house were dissolved in June 2012 and July 2012 respectively (Egypt). Interestingly, there are reportedly over 40 political parties in Egypt. The Freedom and Justice Party, Nour, Free Egyptians Party, Progressive Unionist Party, Social Democratic Party, Wafd, and Wasat are the most influential (Egypt).

Mohammed Morsi, an "engineering professor and ranking Muslim Brotherhood bureaucrat," became Egypt's first democratically elected President in June 2012 (Deknatel). Removing the military from power was the biggest achievement of Morsi's first year in office. This is a considerable feat, as Egypt has the largest standing military in the Arab world. Just months after his election, the generals went back to their barracks and allowed Morsi to take full