Generally, emergency law provides the government with the authority to control every level of political activity, including that within the confines of the formally defined political arena. The duration of the law is three years, but it is routinely renewed. The trend began when President Gamel Abdel Nasser succeeded in establishing a state of emergency in 1956, following the invasion of Egypt by Britain, France, and Israel, and continued until 1963 on the basis of the continuing threat of an offensive against Egypt. Nasser declared another state of emergency in June 1967 because of the Six-Day War, which lasted through the War of Attrition, the October War, and the later years of Anwar El-Sadat's presidency, which were characterized by significant political, economic, and social upheaval and discontent. In total, the state of emergency declared during the 1967 war lasted for 13 years. After Sadat's assassination on 6 October 1981, his Vice-President and successor, Hosni Mubarak, declared another state of emergency, which he kept in place for the entire duration of his three decades in office. President Mubarak argued in his Presidential Public Address in 1998 that emergency law is required "in order to confront terrorism [and] protect democracy and stability." In practice, though, the law was used to not only control and contain terrorism, but to limit legitimate oppositional political activities. For example, campaign gatherings require prior permission from the Ministry of Interior under emergency law. Thus, when a candidate plans to hold a public meeting, he must submit an application to the local police station stating details such as date, location, and estimated size of the gathering. The application is then sent to the Ministry of Interior for consideration. The People's Assembly, which is usually characterized as the lower house of Egypt's quasi-bicameral legislature, is constitutionally empowered to question and even challenge presidential authority. However, that it chooses to not do so cannot be attributed to the unanimous approval of presidential policies. In actuality, the People's Assembly is restricted to the role of rubber-stamping presidential authority because it is confined by presidential powers beyond its control. Under Article 152 of the Constitution, the president is able to have his proposals bypass the People's Assembly and endorse them through a referendum. Consequently, it is impossible for the Assembly to consider or reject the policy. The President of Egypt, though, rarely needs to resort to referenda, except in circumstances where it is a formal requirement, such as initiating constitutional changes. Article 152 is seldom used because there is no reason to do so.