Frygt for snigende militærkup i Egypten efter overraskende kendelse, der går langt videre end forventet – islamister er rasende, da de dominerer parlamentet – præsidentvalg afvikles i weekenden.
Egypt’s supreme court has caused widespread alarm by calling for the dissolution of the lower house of parliament and for fresh elections, BBC online reports Thursday.
Two days before Egyptians choose a new president, it has declared last year’s parliamentary vote unconstitutional as the election law had allowed parties to compete for the one third of seats reserved for independent candidates.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice party won 46 per cent of the vote in the three-month parliamentary poll.
A senior Brother-hood politician, Essam Al-Arian, warned that the decision would leave the incoming president without a parliament or a constitution.
Islamist Abdul Moneim Aboul Fotouh, who took part in the first round of the presidential vote in May, said that dissolving parliament amounted to “a total coup, anyone who imagines that the millions of youths will let this pass is dreaming.”
Protesters gathered in Tahrir square in the centre of Cairo after the ruling.
The supreme constitutional court had been expected to say that some parts of the parliamentary election were illegitimate but the chief judge has gone much further by saying there will have to be a complete re-run.
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 presidential run-off election, rejecting as unconstitutional a law that would have barred him from standing.
