Egypt’s Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb and his Cabinet have resigned after coming under fire for a series of controversial statements and a corruption investigation that led to the arrest of the agriculture minister last week.
The office of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said Saturday that he had accepted the resignation but that the ministers would continue to serve until a new body is appointed.
El-Sissi asked Oil Minister Sherif Ismail to form a new cabinet within one week, a statement from the presidency said.
Agriculture Minister Salah el-Din Helal was detained Monday after tendering his resignation amid an investigation into allegations that he and others received over $1 million in bribes.
The Egyptian government has long been plagued by corruption allegations. El-Sissi routinely emphasizes that he is fighting corruption.
Egypt is also battling an insurgency headed by a Daesh affiliate while trying to attract more foreign investment in an economy reeling from years of turmoil that followed an uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Ismail will likely be appointed the new prime minister, replacing Ibrahim Mehleb. An engineer who held senior posts at several state-run energy firms, Ismail is seen as one of the best performing ministers.
As oil minister, he oversaw politically sensitive reforms, slashing energy subsidies, and also paid back some arrears to foreign energy companies to improve Egypt’s image among investors.
Sissi has asked the previous government to carry on in a caretaker role until a new administration is formed, the statement said.
Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, is due to hold long-delayed parliamentary elections next month, the final step in a process the government has said would deliver democracy.
In his former role as army chief, Sissi toppled Egypt’s first freely-elected president, Islamist Mohamed Mursi, in 2013 after mass protests against his rule. Sissi was later elected president on promises of political stability and economic prosperity.
He launched a security crackdown that put an end to large-scale political unrest in Egypt but has drawn criticism from human rights groups who accuse him of silencing the opposition.
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