Egyptian MPs elect new heads of parliamentary committees
Alaa Abed, a leading figure of the Free Egyptians Party, was elected head of the Human Rights Committee. As many as seven MPs who competed for the post decided to withdraw from the race. One of these, businessman and head of the Conservatives Party Akmal Qortam, accused the Free Egyptians Party of compelling its MPs to join the human rights committee to have adequate voting power to elect Abed. Qortam described the vote as "undemocratic" and as a result he said he had decided to resign from parliament.