Parliament Diaries| Political musical chairs in the upper chamber elections
The lead-up to the Senate elections in early August hardly stirs interest. Still, the electoral scene offers fleeting moments that expose the deeper structure of Egypt’s political landscape: the absence of democratic contest, the dominance of partisan quotas in the candidate lists, and the enduring entanglement of wealth and authority.
This election season, a few scenes caught my attention—each a quiet signal of the crisis we’re in. Take, for instance, the swapping of seats between the upper and lower chambers of Parliament.
The gesture says more than it seems. It points to the absence of political renewal and echoes the broader condition of Egypt’s political parties—most of which wield parliamentary presence far beyond their weight on the street.
The chamber’s composition drives the point home. One-third of the seats are filled through a closed list—one list, uncontested. Another third is appointed directly by the president. The final third is left to individual races in sprawling constituencies, where no independent candidate can hope to win without deep pockets or a party’s backing.
What emerges is not representative of real popular support, but the outcome of political arithmetic and negotiation.
Musical chairs
The National List for the Sake of Egypt came with its own share of surprises: the complete disappearance of some parties and the marginalization of others. But what stood out most this time was the unambiguous presence of the money-power alliance. A new class of business elites had entered the race, leaving little doubt about who the list was designed to accommodate.
The Senate’s game of musical chairs began quietly, with the resignation of nine MPs from the House of Representatives just before the close of its fifth session, timed neatly with the opening of Senate candidacy registration.
Among those who stepped down from the House to join the Senate party lists were six MPs from the majority party, Nation’s Future: Ali Abu Ahmed, Mohamed Kamal Marei, Ghada El-Dabaa, Suleiman Ataiwi, and Othman El-Montasser. They were joined by Ahmed Abdel Moneim Ismail, who had run as an independent in the 2020 House elections but now returns under the banner of Nation’s Future, contesting a Senate seat in Abu Qurqas.
Also among the resigning MPs were Ahmed El-Gahsh of Homeland Defenders, Abdel Fattah El-Shahat of the Freedom Party, and Amira Saber of the Social Democratic Party.
According to parliamentary sources from the Nation’s Future, the party’s secretary-general, Ahmed Abdel Gawad, is expected to move to a guaranteed House seat in the upcoming elections after representing the party in the Senate during the last legislative term.
Abdel Gawad has long been the Nation’s Future’s driving force, having served first as secretary for organization, then as secretary-general, and vice president of the party.
Sources from the Social Democratic Party also indicated that the party’s Senate parliamentary leader, Mahmoud Samy El-Emam, will move to the House.
Favorites on the list
The National List for the Sake of Egypt has reemerged for this year’s Senate elections, led once again by Nation’s Future, which secured 44 of the list’s 100 slots. Homeland Defenders followed with 19 seats, and the National Front Party with 12.
The Republican People’s Party dropped to five seats, matching the Social Democratic Party’s share. The Justice Party and the Reform and Development Party each received four seats. The Will of a Generation Party joined the list for the first time, with a single seat.
The surprise was the exclusion of the Awareness Party from the spoils of guaranteed list seats, despite heavy media coverage and advertising. Resuscitated by former MP Bassel Adel when the National Dialogue was in full swing, the party appeared to be positioning itself as a key player.
Adel, in an effort to promote dialogue, had announced the formation of the Dialogue Bloc, which brought together liberal figures who later attempted to establish the Dialogue Bloc Party.
When the party formation faltered, Adel and his fellow founding members joined the dormant Awareness Party, originally formed in 2011 but inactive in recent years. Restructuring a registered party and relaunching it to the public seemed faster and more viable than the uphill battle of collecting powers-of-attorney to establish a new one.
Despite Adel’s attempt to carve out a centrist position—close enough to the government without alienating the opposition—he was left out of the Senate list. His party also faced internal tensions, including the resignation of notable members such as veteran journalist Karam Gabr, the former head of Egypt's Supreme Council for Media Regulations.
Awareness wasn’t the only party sidelined. Other parties also saw diminished representation compared to 2020. The Wafd Party received just two seats, sparking an internal backlash against its leader Abdel-Sanad Yamama. The Republican People’s Party, previously the third largest bloc in the Senate, was reduced to just five seats.
Business as usual
The candidate map offers yet another glimpse of the enduring knot between wealth and politics. Some well-known business figures are vying to hold on to their seats—and the immunity that comes with them—while new faces step forward, hoping to enter the same equation.
Several businessmen held onto their Senate seats for another term. Most notable are Ahmed Abou Hashima, representing the Republican People’s Party on the national list, and Mohamed Halawa, who remains a Nation’s Future representative.
Neither Abou Hashima nor Halawa made any notable contributions during Senate general sessions over the past five legislative cycles. Yet Abou Hashima, founder of Egyptian Industrial Investment Group, chaired the Youth and Sports Committee, while Halawa—whose investments are primarily in the food industry—headed the Industry Committee.
Even the death of footballer Ahmed Refaat of the Modern FC football team didn’t stir the ranks. Businessman Ahmed Diab—of Nation’s Future and a candidate on the national list—retained his place.
Diab, who chairs the Egyptian Premier League, had faced mounting questions after Refaat, 31, died in early July following a cardiac arrest he suffered during a league match in March.
In the wake of his death, Refaat’s agent and brother went public with accusations against several sports officials, alleging administrative and legal misconduct tied to his transfer to the Emirati club Al-Wehda—claims they say took a toll on his mental health. Still, none of this appeared to shake Diab’s standing, either in sports or in politics.
In November 2024, the Senate voted to lift Diab’s immunity so he could be investigated in connection with Refaat’s death. The Speaker clarified at the time that Diab had voluntarily requested the waiver, and that no request had been submitted by the Prosecutor General, although the Cairo Appeals Prosecution had drafted a memo seeking to question two former Future FC officials: Senators Ahmed Diab and Ahmed Abdel Gawad.
Diab’s business interests now center on the sports sector. His family wields both financial and political power. His father, businessman and former MP Ihsan Diab, was one of the defendants in the pre-2011 “Loan MPs” scandal, in which a number of MPs were accused of fraudulently obtaining bank loans.
In addition to incumbents solidifying their positions, new business figures have joined the list. Among them is Salah Mohamed Fathallah Al-Saudi, CEO of Ceramica Remas, who is running for Nation’s Future.
Businessman Ahmed Elbaz, owner of the Kebabgy Palace restaurant chain, is also running for a Senate seat in Gharbiya Governorate. Earlier this year, Nation’s Future appointed El-Baz as deputy secretary for the party’s Gharbiya office.
Zooming in on the elections reveals a political landscape committed to using flawed tools and mechanisms for shaping legislative bodies. These processes promise little more than the repeat of past failures and the return to the parliamentary stagnation already evident in the work of the outgoing Senate.