Arte Cultura-Cairo-12-01-2021

The former director of the Egyptian Academy in Rome, Gihane Zaki, will be sworn in today in the newly elected House of Representatives (the lower house of the Egyptian parliament), which meets after the autumn voting sessions. The Nova agency reports. Born in 1966, Zaki was educated at the Catholic School of the Sacred Heart and then obtained a doctorate in Egyptology in Lyon. Her career has been characterized by the ability to combine culture and research with political reality, with a view to initiating a dialogue to bring people together. In 2012 Zaki came to Rome to lead the Egyptian Academy. In the seven years in the capital, the Egyptian Academy has relaunched cultural activity. Zaki was the first woman to head the Academy after 13 directors. She currently teaches at the Sorbonne and is an associate researcher for the prestigious national research center (CNRS) in France. The new MP will lead the Parliament's Culture and Archeology Commission and is part of the 25 percent share of the seats assigned by law to women. The former director of the Egyptian Academy will sit in parliament after the direct appointment by the head of state, Abdel Fatah al Sisi. The 596 deputies, in fact, are elected and appointed according to a mixed system. The system of individual candidacies allows the election of 284 deputies, as many parliamentarians are chosen on the basis of the closed list system, while 28 are directly elected by the head of state.