They suggested fresh elections for all Council seats up for grabs. However, Kamal El-Shazli, Minster of State for Parliamentary Affairs, said the fears were unjustified because the ruling handed down by the Constitutional Court applied only to parliamentary elections, and not to Shura Council elections. It was established by the late President Anwar El-Sadat in 1980 to make proposals on modifying some articles of the constitution and debating laws that complement the constitution. The Council also discusses the state's socio-economic development plans and prepares reports on specific national issues. Others are elected or appointed in their place.
Losers are eligible for re-election or reappointment.
The Council's mid-term elections will be held in 67 districts to fill 88 seats, and 44 others will be filled by President Hosni Mubarak. The membership of a group of appointed members will expire next July. They include Tharwat Abaza, the Council's deputy speaker, Ali Lutfi, a former prime minister, and Farag Mohsen, chairman of the Council's Legislative Committee. They are eligible for reappointment by President Mubarak. In the meantime, a confrontation is heating up between the government and the People's Assembly, on the one hand, and the judicial authority on the other, because of appeals filed against the legality of the membership of a large number of newly-elected deputies.