- published: 01 Jun 2015
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The government of Egypt, as of January 2012, is a republic currently under military rule of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces after the President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak stepped down following several days of mass protests. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the People's Assembly.
Egypt has been a republic since 18 June 1953. Since the declaration of the republic, four Egyptians have served as presidents. The first President to take office was President Mohamed Naguib. The fourth president was Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, the President of Egypt since October 14, 1981, following the assassination of former President Mohammed Anwar El-Sadat.
In early 2011, following the Tunisian Revolution, there was a revolution in Egypt. Mass protest compelled Mubarak, the leader of the National Democratic Party, to resign on 11 February 2011, ending his fifth term in office. He was replaced by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces headed by Field Marshall Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, which dissolved the Parliament of Egypt, suspended the Constitution of Egypt, and promised free, open presidential and parliamentary elections before the year's end and within six months. Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik was sworn in as Prime Minister on January 29, 2011, in response to the 2011 Egyptian revolution; he was succeeded on 5 March by Essam Sharaf, in response to continued protests.
Egypt i/ˈiːdʒɪpt/ (Arabic: مصر, Miṣr, Egyptian Arabic: [mɑsˤɾ] ; Coptic: Ⲭⲏⲙⲓ, Kīmi ; Sahidic Coptic: ⲕⲏⲙⲉ, Kēme), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: جمهوريّة مصر العربيّة (help·info), is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Covering an area of about 1,010,000 square kilometers (390,000 sq mi), Egypt is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west.
Egypt is one of the most populous countries in Africa and the Middle East. The great majority of its over 81 million people live near the banks of the Nile River, in an area of about 40,000 square kilometers (15,000 sq mi), where the only arable land is found. The large areas of the Sahara Desert are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria and other major cities in the Nile Delta.