Egypt's first parliament in three years sworn in with 300 new laws to be ratified in 15 days

Egypt's first parliament in more than three years opened on Sunday (10 January) with MPs now expected to pass 300 new laws in 15 days.

Each new member took an oath one at a time before beginning the process of electing a new speaker and his two deputies in the heavily fortified parliament building in Cairo.

"The most important thing is to deal with more than 300 (draft) laws and we have to do that in the next 15 days," said MP Saeed Hassasein according to Al-Arabiya. "We have agreed among parliamentarians to work day and night until we ratify those laws," he added.

Hundreds of bills have accumulated since the last parliament was dissolved by the constitutional court.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who was then General Sisi, dissolved parliament by a court ruling in 2012 then ousting President Mohammed Morsi. The new parliament is dominated by pro-Sisi candidates in the absence of any real opposition.

Sisi's For Love of Egypt coalition is made up of parties and groups that opposed the Muslim Brotherhood. The new 568-member parliament is expected to increase Sisi's power in rubber-stamping government decisions.

The former army chief won a presidential election in May 2014 but since Morsi was removed, hundreds of his former Muslim Brotherhood supporters have been killed, jailed or sentenced to death.

Sunday's session was disrupted by one MP, Murtada Mansour, a Sisi supporter, who was initially reluctant to read the MPs' oath, before "hurriedly and casually" reciting it, AP reported.

Mansour was said to be angry at parts of the text agreed alluded to an endorsement of the ousting of former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, which some in Sisi's party see as a mistake.

There was a low turnout in the last election of just 28.3 percent.