A crisis erupted between members of the so-called 25-30 bloc — a major leftist coalition in Egypt's parliament — and parliament Speaker Ali Abdul Aal after bloc members withdrew from discussions on the value added tax (VAT) law and held a conference to announce their opposition to the legislation.

Although Abdul Aal decided to refer the deputies in question to the Ethics Committee after their withdrawal from the session in late August, this was not the beginning of the standoff between the speaker and the bloc.

The impasse began when the bloc issued a statement in July criticizing the speaker and his method of managing the parliament, writing, “When he leads the parliament sessions, no one gets the chance to express their varied opinions on subjects. Sometimes he allows someone to speak and sometimes he does not.”

Back then, parliament member Mohamed Abu Hamed, a member of the State Support coalition, had presented an urgent request to Abdul Aal to refer parliament members of the 25-30 bloc to the Ethics Committee for disrespecting the speaker and defaming all deputies.