The executive branch of the government, meaning the president, maintains most of the power. The president is nominated by the 454-seat legislature called the People's Assembly, and then passed on to the people who express their opinion by referendum. Political parties were first allowed in 1977, but the 1990 and 1995 parliamentary elections, the latter of which was declared rigged by an independent monitoring group, were still resoundingly won by the incumbent National Democratic Party. It is divided into 100 piastres or 1000 millims. This number may drop as Egypt's farmers convert their fields to wheat for grain production.
Agricultural production includes citrus fruits, vegetables, rice and sugar cane.
Ancient Egypt Written Egyptian history begins in 3100 BC, when King Menes unified the Upper and Lower Kingdoms of the Nile. The Old Period had its capital at Memphis and saw the building of Cairo's greatest monuments at Saqqara and Giza. The Middle Kingdom moved the capital to Thebes, in the south, and is notable for strides made in irrigation practices along the Nile. The New Kingdom left many of the great surviving southern monuments. Egypt in the Common Era Alexander the Great followed soon after the end of the dynasties.