The Minister of Interior responds to representatives during a session to discuss the 2027 fiscal draft:
The government continues to work on the maturity of the draft municipal and state laws, keen to produce two integrated texts that address the various aspects related to the management of local communities and respond to the requirements of the next stage, at a time when some political parties are calling for an acceleration of their referral to Parliament and their approval before the next local elections, allowing the new elected councils to carry out their duties under the new legal framework.
The issue of accelerating the presentation of the two projects was not absent from the discussions that took place in the Finance and Budget Committee of the National People’s Assembly, as a number of deputies raised the need to refer them to Parliament as an urgent matter, so that the process of ratifying them could be completed before the next local elections. In his response to these concerns, the Minister of the Interior and Local Communities, Ibrahim Murad, confirmed during his visit to the committee within the framework of the discussion of the draft finance law for the year 2027, that the government is working to complete the drafting of the two texts, allowing the submission of a mature and integrated version that takes into account Various aspects and issues related to the management of local communities.
According to what Al-Shorouk reported, the Minister stressed the importance of subjecting the two draft laws to further control and maturity, leading to an integrated formulation that accommodates the various issues raised, and avoids repeating any previous experience, taking into account the proposals of the political class and its concerns regarding the management of local communities, thus making the two texts more responsive to field and institutional requirements.
The MPs’ concerns and inquiries in this regard fall within the demands of a number of political formations that are pushing towards accelerating the introduction of the two draft laws and completing their legislative path before the next local elections, allowing them to enter into force in conjunction with the installation of the new elected councils, so that the latter can carry out their duties in light of the new legal provisions.
The draft municipal and state laws had gone through several stages of preparation and review, which included consultations with political formations and parliamentary blocs, which submitted proposals and amendments regarding a number of provisions contained in the two drafts. In this context, the government was granted a period of 30 days to expand the circle of consultation on the two drafts, allowing the political parties and parliament in its two chambers to express their observations and submit their proposals regarding the formulas presented for discussion. Parliamentary groups and parliamentary blocs also began studying the two drafts and preparing proposals. It concerns a number of issues related to the management of local communities, including the powers of local elected officials and the mechanisms for selecting the president of the municipal popular council, in addition to the provisions regulating the functioning of elected councils.
The committee charged with reviewing the municipal and state laws had previously prepared a preliminary version of the two drafts during the period extending between the years 2023 and 2024, before reconsidering the two drafts in light of the observations and reservations expressed by some political formations regarding a number of the proposed provisions. The proposals presented during the consultation stages included aspects related to expanding the powers of the elected councils, organizing the mechanisms for electing and succeeding their presidents, as well as reviewing the provisions related to the management of local communities and the relationship of the councils with administrative bodies. The draft state law also addressed provisions related to the powers of the state People’s Council and its role in proposing and following up on development projects, in addition to regulating the powers of the governor and the state’s Executive Council.
