Decentralization in Egypt: More than 10 years of a stumbling path

42 Defining and regulating the local units: Based on available sources from the press and media over the past years since the pieces of legislation were proposed, and going through their four drafts, we find similarities among them, such as in terms of the form and determinants of the regulation specified by the constitutional text e.g., the nature of the legal personality of the local units. [...] This could occur, for instance, as the standards available are to be those decided on by the ministers’ council and the governors’ council based on a decree issued by the ministry of the local development relating the standards for setting up the main cities and villages or the local units of the villages as well as satellite villages.44 42 Bills for the local administration in front of the Repres. [...] Despite not including any mention of the high council of the local administration, the draft presented by the government clearly granted a great deal of power to the ministry presiding over local administrations in directing and regulating all issues related to organizing local organs and the affairs of the local units. [...] This can also be applied to the relations and powers between the governor and the other units below the governor, such as the local council of the governorate or the executive council of the governorate. [...] For instance, this can be seen regarding the superiority of executive bodies over elected councils, the relation between the localities and the government and its bodies, and with the dominance of the government over the elected local councils – be it concerning the administrational level of local work or the financial level.