SISI: Egypt parliamentary polls before end of March

Egypt’s parliamentary elections will be held before the end of March 2015, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told a visiting U.S. business delegation on Monday, his office said.

Electing a new parliament is a key step in a roadmap announced by the army after it ousted Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, on July 3, 2013.

“Egypt will achieve its third milestone announced in the post-July 3 roadmap... of holding its parliamentary elections before an international economic conference scheduled in the first quarter of 2015,” Sisi was quoted as telling the U.S. delegation, according to a statement issued by his office.

The planned economic conference aims to attract foreign investments to kick-start the country’s battered economy.

Sisi, then army chief, ousted Morsi and announced a political roadmap that envisaged adopting a new constitution, to be followed by presidential and parliamentary elections.

While the new constitution was adopted in January 2014, the presidential election, which Sisi won, was held in May.

The Supreme Electoral Commission announced in June the start of preparatory procedures for holding the parliamentary polls.

The commission recently said the date for the parliamentary polls will be fixed after a law finalising the constituencies was issued.

Egypt’s first parliament after the 2011 uprising that toppled veteran autocrat Hosni Mubarak was dissolved after a court ruling in June 2012.

Since then, Egypt’s presidents have enjoyed both executive and legislative powers.

The U.S. business delegation, comprising representatives from more than 60 firms, is visiting Egypt to discuss investments in the country.

The nearly 160-member delegation is thought to be the biggest such U.S. business group to visit Egypt since the 2011 uprising.