Egypt's top court dissolves parliament, upsets Islamists
Source: Agencies |
June 15, 2012, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
EGYPT'S highest court yesterday ordered the country's Islamist-dominated parliament dissolved and ruled that the last prime minister to serve under Hosni Mubarak could stay in the presidential race, twin blows to the Muslim Brotherhood that could sweep away its political gains since Mubarak's ouster 16 months ago.
The rulings by the Supreme Constitutional Court, whose judges are Mubarak appointees, escalated the power struggle between the Brotherhood and the military, which stepped in to rule after Mubarak's fall. The decisions tip the contest dramatically in favor of the ruling generals, robbing the Brotherhood of its power base in parliament and boosting Ahmad Shafiq, the former Mubarak prime minister who many see as the military's favorite in the presidential contest against the Brotherhood's candidate.
Senior Muslim Brotherhood leader and lawmaker Mohammed el-Beltagy said the rulings amounted to a "full-fledged coup."
"This is the Egypt that Shafiq and the military council want and which I will not accept no matter how dear the price is," he said on his Facebook page.
The Brotherhood and activists who backed last year's revolution against Mubarak accused the military of using the constitutional court as a proxy to preserve the ousted leader's authoritarian regime. Many vowed new street protests.
The ruling means that new elections will have to be held to form a new parliament. In the last election, held over three months starting in November, the Brotherhood came out the big winners, grabbing nearly half the seats. Ultraconservative Islamists known as Salafis won another 20 percent. In the months that followed, the Brotherhood tried to translate those gains into governing power but was repeatedly stymied by the military's grip.
On Saturday and Sunday, Shafiq goes head-to-head against the Brotherhood's candidate, Mohammed Morsi, in the presidential run-off. The race has already deeply polarized the country. The anti-Shafiq camp views him as an extension of Mubarak's authoritarian regime. The anti-Morsi camp fears he and the Brotherhood will turn Egypt into an Islamic state and curtail freedoms if he wins.
In its decisions yesterday, the court ruled that a third of the legislature was elected illegally. As a result, it said, "the makeup of the entire chamber is illegal and, consequently, it does not legally stand."
The explanation was carried by Egypt's official news agency and confirmed by court judge Maher Sami Youssef.
The law governing the parliamentary elections was ruled unconstitutional by a lower court because it breached the principle of equality when it allowed party members to contest a third of seats set aside for independents. The remaining two thirds were contested by party slates.
In a separate ruling, the court said Shafiq could stay in the presidential race, rejecting a law passed by parliament last month that barred prominent figures from the old regime from running for office.
The rulings by the Supreme Constitutional Court, whose judges are Mubarak appointees, escalated the power struggle between the Brotherhood and the military, which stepped in to rule after Mubarak's fall. The decisions tip the contest dramatically in favor of the ruling generals, robbing the Brotherhood of its power base in parliament and boosting Ahmad Shafiq, the former Mubarak prime minister who many see as the military's favorite in the presidential contest against the Brotherhood's candidate.
Senior Muslim Brotherhood leader and lawmaker Mohammed el-Beltagy said the rulings amounted to a "full-fledged coup."
"This is the Egypt that Shafiq and the military council want and which I will not accept no matter how dear the price is," he said on his Facebook page.
The Brotherhood and activists who backed last year's revolution against Mubarak accused the military of using the constitutional court as a proxy to preserve the ousted leader's authoritarian regime. Many vowed new street protests.
The ruling means that new elections will have to be held to form a new parliament. In the last election, held over three months starting in November, the Brotherhood came out the big winners, grabbing nearly half the seats. Ultraconservative Islamists known as Salafis won another 20 percent. In the months that followed, the Brotherhood tried to translate those gains into governing power but was repeatedly stymied by the military's grip.
On Saturday and Sunday, Shafiq goes head-to-head against the Brotherhood's candidate, Mohammed Morsi, in the presidential run-off. The race has already deeply polarized the country. The anti-Shafiq camp views him as an extension of Mubarak's authoritarian regime. The anti-Morsi camp fears he and the Brotherhood will turn Egypt into an Islamic state and curtail freedoms if he wins.
In its decisions yesterday, the court ruled that a third of the legislature was elected illegally. As a result, it said, "the makeup of the entire chamber is illegal and, consequently, it does not legally stand."
The explanation was carried by Egypt's official news agency and confirmed by court judge Maher Sami Youssef.
The law governing the parliamentary elections was ruled unconstitutional by a lower court because it breached the principle of equality when it allowed party members to contest a third of seats set aside for independents. The remaining two thirds were contested by party slates.
In a separate ruling, the court said Shafiq could stay in the presidential race, rejecting a law passed by parliament last month that barred prominent figures from the old regime from running for office.
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