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Half of the Free Egyptians Party's (FEP) Parliamentary bloc have resigned from the liberal party and joined Future of the Nation Party, news reports said on Tuesday, in the latest partisan reshuffle of Egypt's House of Representatives.

In statements to Shorouk Daily on Tuesday, MP Mohamed El-Masood, who resigned from FEP and joined Future of the Nation party, said half of the FEP parliamentary bloc had switched camps.

President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi held an “Ask the President” session during the National Youth Conference on Wednesday; a move seemingly unprecedented for an Egyptian president. The questions, too, were unusually straightforward; no one was beating around the bush. 

What the Q&A session signified in terms of internal policies was somewhat a new strategy for bringing the people and their president on closer terms. The presidential palace was opening wide, and the president was going to meet the people half way. 

Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel Aal said Monday that the local elections will be held in 2018, which is sooner than the date expected by some officials. 

"The Local Administration Committee in the Parliament has finished discussing a draft law for the local administration," Abdel Aal said in a statement, referring to the draft law which is set to allow the first local polls in a decade to be held. 

Egypt has extended its state of emergency for the fourth time, sparking controversy in political and legal circles about the security reasons behind this step and whether the decision is constitutional.

The constitution clearly states that a state of emergency can last a maximum of three months, with one three-month extension. Egypt has been living under a state of emergency for 12 months, and now has at least three more months to go.

Around 100 partisan and independent parliamentary members met with Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel Aal in the Shura Council’s lobby to discuss a suggestion of turning the Support Egypt parliamentary coalition into a political party.

Abdel Aal said that the idea, which was suggested by the president of the coalition Mohammed al-Sewedi, is doable.

Member of the coalition’s political bureau Tharwat Bekhet told Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper that the idea needs great efforts and practical measures that will make the party strong and viable.

Egypt's parliament approved in a majority vote on Sunday a presidential decree extending for three months a nationwide state of emergency, state-owned MENA news agency reported. The ongoing state of emergency was extended by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on Saturday for an additional three months starting 14 April.

The vote came following a speech by PM Sherif Ismail in front of the House where he presented reasons behind the extension.

Giza criminal court upheld on Sunday a previous ruling that stipulated that the 2012 presidential election that brought Mohamed Morsi to power in Egypt was fair, according to the state-run newspaper Al-Ahram.

The lawsuit dates back to 2012 when the former presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq filed a complaint alleging that the Egyptian Election Committee rigged the outcome in Morsi’s favour.

Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris denied on Sunday April 8 split reports within his faction of the Free Egyptians Party over proposed merger with al-Ghad Party. 

On his official Twitter account, Sawiris wrote: "It is totally unfounded, especially with regard to a party that did not even win a single seat in the last [parliamentary] election." 

Egyptian police raided the offices of a website Tuesday evening, arresting its Editor-in-Chief Adel Sabri, media has reported. Two days earlier, Masr al-Arabia had been ordered by a state media regulator to pay a $2,849 fine for republishing an article from The New York Times, which criticised Egypt's one-horse-race presidential elections.