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the veto power, and nominates the President of the Senate
and two fifths of the Senators. He appoints and dismisses
Ministers and may dissolve the Chamber of Deputies.
But the Ministers are responsible for all acts of the King.
The other Senators and all the Deputies are elected by uni-
versal suffrage, but indirectly. Groups of thirty voters
choose “electors-delegate” who choose the Deputies and
also in groups of five choose electors who select the Senators.
The Senators hold office for ten years, half the body being
renewed every five years; the Deputies hold office (unless
the Chamber is dissolved) for five years. The Constitution
makes Arabic the official language, Islam the State religion,
and it requires general elementary education for both sexes.
In July, 1923, martial law and all the exceptional mili-
tary laws of the previous nine years were abolished. In
September the first elections were begun and the Wafd,!
Zaghlul’s party, won nearly all the seats. In January,
1924, Zaghlul became Prime Minister by virtue of his
victory at the polls and on March 15, 1924, a new Parlia-
ment opened. The new body was keen and enthusiastic,
but disorderly and violently partisan. The King’s speech,
read by the veteran Zaghlul, had proposed a program of
domestic legislation, but all interest centered in foreign
relations — and in the spoils of office. The various parlies
tried to outbid each other in their devotion to independ-
! Wafd means “National Delegation” and was adopted as a party name
in 1918 or 1919 when the leaders of the party were claiming that they had
been selected by petition and demonstration to represent their country.
Zaghlul and his followers were and still are called Nationalists in the general
sense of agitators for national independence, but the term National Party
is more strictly applicable to the Hisb el Watani (Watanists), the successors
of Mustapha Pasha Kamel. The Wafd has been and is also opposed by the
Liberal Constitutional Party organized by Adly Pasha, by the Ettahad, and
by various “independents” — though in both the last two elections most
of the “independents” have opposed the Wafd only until the election was
over.
