Few days after Egypt had ended its first legislative poll following the ouster of Hosni Mubarak nearly a year ago, the lower house of parliament held its first session on Monday.

Few days after Egypt had ended its first legislative poll following the ouster of Hosni Mubarak nearly a year ago, the lower house of parliament held its first session on Monday.

The lower and more powerful of parliament's two chambers, known as the People's Assembly, was due to elect a speaker and two deputies later in the session. The speaker was expected to come from the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice party, which took roughly 43 per cent of the vote.

Elections for parliament's upper chamber, a body known as the Shura Council, will begin later this month.
The chamber's top priority is to elect a 100-member panel to draft a new constitution, which will have to be put to a vote in a nationwide referendum.

 Presidential elections are scheduled to be held before the end of June, when the military generals who took over from Mubarak in February last year are due to step down.

Monday session was chaired by the chamber's oldest lawmaker, Mahmoud el-Saqqah.
El-Saqqah began the proceedings by ordering lawmakers to stand in silence for a minute in memory of the hundreds of protesters killed during the protests.

Mubarak, 83, was forced out of office by an 18-day popular uprising last February.
The former president is on trial for complicity in the killing of the protesters. He could face the death penalty if convicted.