Egypt's new cabinet to remain if parliament approves agenda

Cairo: Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Monday said the newly-appointed cabinet will remain in place if the upcoming parliament approves its agenda.

"There is no connection between changing the government and the next parliament, and it's not constitutional that the cabinet should resign, but it would provide its programme and the parliament may accept it," al-Sisi said.

"The government at the time will present a programme if parliament votes for it, and the government will remain in order to implement it," Xinhua news agency quoted the president as saying. 

"If not, a new government will be presented."

The current cabinet, which was sworn in September, has been seen as a transitional one as voting for a long-awaiting parliamentary election is scheduled to start later this month.

The voting represents the third and final phase of Sisi's political roadmap, after the election of a president and adoption of a new constitution, following the 2013 ouster of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in response to mass protests against his one-year rule.