Constitution and administration. – Hereditary monarchy of the Moḥammed ‛Alī dynasty. In the absence of succession to the throne, the king can appoint his successor with the consent of the Congress (two thirds of the members of each chamber). In the interregnum, the council of ministers exercises royal power. The king is the supreme head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Appoint and dismiss the ministers, responsible to the parliament; declares war and concludes treaties. Established ministries: interior, finance, foreign affairs, war and navy, justice, waqf, agriculture, communications, public works, education.
Constitution: given by the king on April 19, 1923 and amended on October 22, 1930, together with the new electoral law. All Egyptian citizens who have reached the age of 25 have the right to vote (except for the disqualified, the bankrupt, the alienated and, for 5 years, the military in service). Double degree elections by secret ballot. Eligibility: 30 years, for the Chamber of Deputies; 40 years for the senate. The following are not eligible for deputy: judges and magistrates of the public prosecutor, military and state officials. The following may be elected to the Senate: ministers, councilors of the court of appeal, senior officials and members of the clergy, deputies with ten years of mandate or five legislatures, those with a minimum tax of 150 Egyptian pounds. In the interval of parliamentary sessions or in the event of dissolution of chambers,
Egypt is divided into 14 provinces (mud ī r ī yah) and 5 governorates (mu ḥā fa ẓ ah). Each province is governed by a mud ī r, dependent on the Ministry of the Interior, and is subdivided into markaz under the authority of a ma’m ū r. The provincial councils are chaired by the mud ī r and made up of two delegates for each markaz. Population centers are provided with municipal commissions, local commissions or village councils. Provinces and governorates have police forces: officers come from the army or the Cairo police school.
Justice is administered by indigenous courts (civil and criminal), mixed courts, personal status courts, consular courts. The mixed courts (3 and 1 court of appeal), established in 1875, are competent for civil and commercial cases between foreigners of different nationalities, foreigners and indigenous people, foreigners of the same nationality for real estate cases. The consular courts know the cases between compatriots not under the jurisdiction of mixed jurisdiction and the criminal trials against subjects of the respective governments. The indigenous courts are: 245 cantonal courts, 93 summary courts, 5 governorial courts, 8 markaz courts; beyond the jurisdiction of the 2 appellate courts (Cairo and Asyūṭ), the 8 assize courts and the court of cassation. The courts of personal status include: courts of the Scería (officially in French mehkéme, for Muslims, rearranged by decree-law no.78, 12 May 1931, divided into: sommarî, first instance, supreme), máglis ḥ asb ī (municipalities to all indigenous confessions after the decree-law of 13 October 1925) and courts of non-Muslim indigenous religious communities (patriarchal, rabbinical, etc.). There are also some special jurisdictions, such as that of the special court of the occupation army, the repression of slavery, smuggling, etc. For Egypt political system, please check politicsezine.com.
The national flag is a crescent and three white stars on a green background.
Historical and administrative divisions. – Egypt since ancient times was divided into Upper and Lower Egypt, including the Nile valley upstream from Cairo in the first and the Delta region in the second. The administrative divisions include five governorates, limited to the capital, Cairo, and the ports of Alexandria, Damietta, Port Said (Canal) and Suez, a border district and 14 provinces, including 6 in Lower Egypt and 8 in Upper Egypt. Almost all provinces are named after their respective capital cities.
Here is the picture of the individual governments, districts and provinces with the indication of the name of the capital city, when this is different from that of the province, of the respective area (limited to the cultivated territory), and of the population (1927):
Natural divisions. – Egypt proper, formed by alluvial lands directly or indirectly irrigated by the Nile, and therefore cultivated and inhabited, can be contrasted with the surrounding desert areas made up of mostly bare rock and arid sand. Egypt must in turn be distinguished in Lower Egypt (Nilotic Delta), on whose climate the influence of the next Mediterranean is felt more or less intensely, and Upper Egypt (eṣ-Sa‛īd), corresponding to the stretch of the valley Nilotic that runs from the beginning of the Delta, immediately to S. of Cairo, up to Aswan, to S. of which low Nubia extends politically included in Egypt up to Wādī Halfā. To the west of Egypt extends the Libyan Desert or Western Desert, with a low plateau character, ḥ am ā dah, mobile dunes): the only arable and habitable areas, thanks to the underground waters, are the large oases (el-Khārǵah, ed-Dākhlah, el-Farāfrah, el-Baharīyah and Sīwah) and small (el-Kurkūr, ed- Dunqul); while the marginal area, under the influence of the Mediterranean, assumes steppe vegetation and climate and forms the Marmaric plateau. To the east of Egypt, between it and the Red Sea, extends the Arabian or Eastern Desert, with a character partly of plateau (el-Ma‛azah), partly of mountain ranges and reliefs mainly dependent on the action of the running water (erosion valleys, delta torrentizî). The scarce vegetation and the poor crops are located in the valley floor. Strictly speaking, the Isthmus of Suez is part of this eastern area,sinai), bounded by the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of el-‛Aqabah and characterized in S. by a high mountain massif with relatively abundant rainfall and snow; in the center by vast and arid desert plateaus furrowed by valleys, to the North. by a wide band of dunes that go as far as the coastal lagoons.
