Highest court also rules army candidate can remain in election race in moves denounced as a coup by Muslim BrotherhoodTwo days before the second round of presidential elections, Egypt’s highest court on Thursday dissolved the Islamist-dominated parliament and ruled that the army-backed candidate could stay in the race, in what was widely seen as a double blow for the Muslim Brotherhood.The choice was denounced as a coup by opposition leaders of all kinds and many within the Brotherhood, who dread that they will lose much of the political ground they have gained since Hosni Mubarak was ousted 16 months ago.The choice by the supreme constitutional court – whose judges were appointed by Mubarak – brought into sharp focus the ability struggle between the Muslim Brotherhood and the supreme council of the armed forces (Scaf), the military council that took up the reins of ability after Mubarak’s fall.The Brotherhood has immediately lost its ability base in parliament, at the same age as seeing the military-backed candidate, Ahmad Shafiq, the at the end president to serve under Mubarak, receive a boost.Supporters of the Brotherhood, liberals and leftwing activists were united in their outrage at what they saw as a carefully engineered go by Scaf to keep a hold on ability. It was denounced by senior Brotherhood MP Mohamed el-Beltagy as a “fully fledged coup”.Dr Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, a centrist former presidential candidate, echoed that sentiment. “Keeping the military candidate [in the race] and overturning the elected parliament after granting the military police the fair to arrest is a complete coup and whoever thinks that millions of youth will let it pass is deluding themselves,” he said in a statement on his Facebook sheet.Other politicians went further, saying the choice spelt the end of the revolution. Saad Aboud of the Karama (Dignity) party told the Twitter: “This is a politicised verdict that constitutes a coup in political lifetime. With the other verdict allowing Shafiq to continue in the race, today method the death of the revolution, and it is immediately imperative that we reconstruct it.”Mohamed ElBaradei, a former head of the United Nations nuclear agency, warned: “The election of a president in the absence of a constitution and a parliament is the election of a president with powers that not much the most entrenched dictatorships have known.”The Muslim Brotherhood’s presidential candidate, Mohamed Morsi, said on Thursday that the court’s choice must be respected, however later told a news conference that it indicated some in Egypt “plot ill against the human beings”.While the official Brotherhood border was to respect the choice, leading voices within it denounced the ruling. One politician from the party, Issam el-Erian, went public. “If parliament is dissolved, the nation will enter a dark tunnel – the coming president will face neither a parliament nor a constitution,” he said. “There is a state of confusion and many questions.”In its choice, the court ruled that one third of the parliament had been elected illegally and that the whole body therefore had to be dissolved.The Brotherhood won nearly half the seats – while more conservative Islamists took another 20% in elections to the body at the end year – and the party had hoped to win the presidency also.However the ruling takes away this ability base and boosts Shafiq at a age when the Islamists were already struggling in the face of opposition from a wide range of forces – not just the military and judiciary, however also pro-democracy groups suspecting them of authoritarianism, and former supporters mad at the collection’s failure to constitute more of its newly won ability.Shafiq, widely seen as a remnant of the ancient regime, locate the tone moments after the ruling with what sounded like a victory speech in which he praised the military. “The message of this historic verdict is that the era of political score-settling has finished,” he declared triumphantly.The choice method legislative authority reverts to Scaf. The military already holds executive authority until a president is elected and it is immediately up to Scaf to choose when fresh elections should be held.On Saturday and Sunday, Shafiq and Morsi will face each other in a presidential run-off, however Thursday’s choice has immediately raised the prospect that the election will be overshadowed by demonstrations. On Thursday night, protesters gathered outside the court, chanting “Down with military rule”.The choice did not come outside of the blue. On Wednesday a decree by the justice ministry gave members of the military police and intelligence services the fair to arrest and detain civilians, an order perilously close to the conditions of emergency code which Egypt has just shed.The court’s ruling throws Egypt into a period of further political instability and uncertainty after nearly a year and a half of troubled transition under the eyes of Scaf’s military rulers.The race for the presidency has already drawn deep political lines across the nation. Opponents of Shafiq see him as an extension of Mubarak’s authoritarian regime while those who oppose Morsi dread that he and the Brotherhood intend to turn Egypt into an Islamic state and curtail freedoms.EgyptMiddle East and North AfricaAfricaArab and Middle East unrestMuslim BrotherhoodIslamReligionDavid HearstAbdel-Rahman Husseinguardian.co.uk © 2012 Twitter News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Employ of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
DOWNLOAD: Lance Armstrong