Two-Thirds Before the Troops

Egypt’s House of Representatives on Monday 19 October postponed its vote on authorising President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to send forces to help defend Saudi Arabia, a step the constitution says needs two-thirds of all members. The vote has been adjourned to 26 October, the House said, Al Jazeera reported.

Reports of the new date differ. The National, the Abu Dhabi daily, reported that the vote had first moved from Sunday to Tuesday and was then postponed on Monday afternoon “for a whole week,” without giving a date. A headline on Ahram Online, the English site of Egypt’s state-owned Al-Ahram, said the debate had been put off to “next Saturday.” This piece uses the House’s date as Al Jazeera reports it.

What exactly did Sisi ask for?

Permission in advance, for a request that has not been made. Speaking at a graduation ceremony at the Egyptian Military Academy on Saturday 17 October, Mr Sisi said, in the translation Al Jazeera published: “I hope that parliament will convene in an emergency session to give us this authorisation,” adding that he sought it “if it is requested of us.” He said Egypt would “carry out any measure to protect” Saudi Arabia “in accordance with the directives of His Majesty King Salman and the directives of the Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman.”

He also drew a limit. “I’m not talking about confronting or attacking anyone,” he said. “We’re talking only about defence.” No formal Saudi request has been announced, The National reported, and Egypt would act only if Riyadh asks. Neither Mr Sisi nor the National Defence Council has said “what form the support would take, how many troops might be sent or for how long,” according to the same report.

What does the constitution require?

Two steps, and a supermajority counted against every seat. Under Article 152 of the constitution, in the English translation published by the Constitute Project, the president “cannot declare war, or send the armed forces to combat outside state territory,” except “after consultation with the National Defense Council” and “the approval of the House of Representatives with a two-thirds majority of its members.” If the House is dissolved, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces must be consulted and the approval of the Cabinet and the National Defence Council obtained instead.

The first step is done. The council, which Mr Sisi chairs, met at Al Ittihadiya Palace on Sunday, declared Egypt’s “full solidarity” with the kingdom and pledged “all necessary and possible forms of support,” The National reported; Al Jazeera reports that it gave its approval. The second step is the vote that did not happen. The National puts the threshold at two-thirds of the 596-member House, or 398 votes. Because the base is the membership rather than those voting, an absent or abstaining member counts, in effect, the same as a vote against.

Who supports the request, and who is holding back?

The governing majority supports it; one small opposition party has told its members to abstain. Pro-government parties led by Mostaqbal Watan, the largest party in the House, back the request, as does the Salafist Nour Party, according to The National. The opposition Egyptian Social Democratic Party said it had told its lawmakers to abstain, Al Jazeera reported, saying national security “requires clarity of objectives,” in The National’s account.

The party holds nearly a dozen seats, and most of its lawmakers support the measure, according to two members of parliament who spoke to the AFP news agency, as Al Jazeera reports it. About 300 members asked to speak in the closed sessions, The National reported, citing local media. No source consulted for this piece publishes the text of the measure, so whether it names Saudi Arabia, sets a time limit or says where forces could go is not known.

What is the request responding to?

A campaign of Houthi missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia. Attacks on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport earlier this month killed 14 people and wounded more than 300, according to Al Jazeera, which also reports strikes on other airports and on oil facilities. After Mr Sisi met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Cairo in September, the Egyptian presidency said that “the security of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states is an integral part of Egypt’s national security.” Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkiye signed a defence pact in August and agreed on 5 October to activate “deterrence measures” under it, Al Jazeera reports. This publication covered the fighting on Yemen’s Red Sea coast in The Strait Again.

Britain has taken a similar step by announcement. Its Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday that “The UK will fly defensive counter air missions to support the protection of Saudi cities and critical national infrastructure against aerial attack, using RAF Typhoon fighter jets,” and that the jets would not attack the Houthis, Al Jazeera reported. The report mentions no vote in Parliament. In Egypt the constitution puts 398 votes between the president and the same kind of decision.

What can be checked on 26 October

Three things: whether the House takes up the measure that day; what the published text says about country, duration and place; and the tally, measured against 398 rather than against those present. Mr Sisi calls the mission defence. Article 152 does not ask what a mission is called. It asks whether forces are being sent to combat outside Egypt, and it counts the answer against all 596 seats.