Egypt's Supreme Court Ruling Triggers Big Outrage

Egypt’s Supreme Court has caused outrage by calling for the dissolution of the lower house of parliament. It has ruled that last year’s parliamentary election was unconstitutional, deciding that one third of the seats were “illegitimate”.

• The controversial decision, days before Egypt’s presidential election run-off, has prompted the ruling military council to hold an emergency meeting.

• The Muslim Brotherhood said it would send Egypt into a “dark tunnel”.
• Its Freedom and Justice party won 46% of the vote in the three-month poll and senior Brotherhood figure Essam Al-Arian warned that the decision would leave the incoming president without a parliament or a constitution.

• Abdul Moneim Aboul Fotouh, who took part in the first round of the presidential vote in May, said that dissolving parliament amounted to a “complete coup”.

• The Salafist Al-Nur party which has the second biggest representation in parliament said the ruling showed “a complete disregard for the free will of voters”.

• In a separate ruling, the supreme court also decided that former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq could continue to run for president in the June 16-17 election, rejecting a law that would have barred him from standing.

• Mr Shafiq is standing against the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohammed Mursi in a tight run-off. He told supporters that the court had made a “historic ruling and verdict that meant there was no way for anyone to do particular laws for particular people.”

• The court had been considering the validity of last year’s parliamentary election, because some of the seats were contested on a proportional list system, with others on the first-past-the-post system.

• According to the official Mena news agency: “The constitutional court affirmed in the details of its verdict that the parliamentary elections were not constitutional, and the entire composition of parliament has been illegitimate since its election.”

• The head of the supreme court Farouk Soltan told the Media: “The ruling regarding parliament includes the dissolution of the lower house of parliament in its entirety because the law upon which the elections were held is contrary to rules of the constitution.”

• Many of the seats ruled unconstitutional were won by the Muslim Brotherhood.

• Ahmed Shafiq was the last prime minister under Hosni Mubarak.

• The Supreme Court had also been asked to rule on a law passed by parliament – the Political Exclusion Law – which bans senior officials from former President Hosni Mubarak’s regime from standing for office.

• The court ruled that the law was unconstitutional, and therefore decided that Mr Shafiq’s candidacy was still valid.

• There was a large security operation outside the court as demonstrators gathered for the judgement.

• A barbed-wire fence was constructed around the court grounds to keep protesters out. Rows of police in riot gear stood guard.

• Many demonstrators shouted slogans and held posters demanding that Mr Shafiq be disqualified.

• One activist, Mohamed Abdel Quodous, said Mr Shafiq should be disqualified because he was considered a “remnant of the old guard” and was a “humiliation to Egypt and its revolution”.