MP and controversial media host Tawfiq Okasha was removed from Monday's parliamentary session by an impromptu vote after clashing with parliament speaker Ali Abdelaal over a request to address the chamber.
The incident occured just hours after Okasha made media statements recommending early presidential elections and the removal of the government.
On Monday morning, Okasha requested permission to address the chamber, a request that Abdelaal refused, prompting Okasha to engage in an angry outburst at the speaker's expense.
Okasha complained that he had been waiting for a long time for an opportunity to address the chamber, but Abdelaal had turned him down repeatedly.
Abdelaal replied, accusing Okasha of being a "troublemaker" and "undisciplined."
Okasha hit back, saying, "Your appointment was a mistake from the beginning," referring to Abdelaal's position as speaker.
The speaker responded by holding a vote among MPs on the removal of Okasha from the chamber, a move supported by a majority of those present.
Okasha, once a fervent supporter of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s rise to power, said on Sunday that he would press for early presidential elections, the removal of the Cabinet of Prime Minister Sherif Ismail and the election of a new parliament.
He told the privately-owned website al-Tahrir that he deliberately did not attend Sisi’s speech in parliament on February 13 in protest at having been refused a personal audience with the president.
“I am a citizen brought [elected] by the people… My request should have been approved, being a representative of the people” said the MP.
According to independent news website Masrawy, Okasha described the current government as “incompetent”, a fact that was illustrated, he said, by the drop in the value of the Egyptian pound relative to the US dollar.
Okasha made headlines when the parliament convened January by claiming that certain parliamentary blocs were backed by sections of the Egyptian security apparatus.
He also staged a sit-in protesting against the draft civil service law, an unpopular bill on government employment that was later voted down by MPs.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
