LF: Egypt Court Dissolves Parliament, Clears Shafik for Runoff

Title: Egypt Court Dissolves Parliament, Clears Shafik for Runoff
Source: Bloomberg
URL Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012- ... shafik-before-runoff-vote.html
Published: Jun 14, 2012
Author: Tarek El-Tablawy, Abdel Latif Wahba and
Post Date: 2012-06-14 12:24:02 by Brian S
Keywords: None
Views: 255

Egypt’s highest court ordered that parliament be dissolved and cleared Ahmed Shafik, a former aide to Hosni Mubarak, to run for the presidency.

The twin rulings threaten to inflame tensions two days before the runoff pitting Shafik against the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi. Shafik, a former air force general, briefly served as the last premier under Mubarak, who was ousted by a popular uprising last year. The activists that led those protests and the Brotherhood accuse him of seeking to revive the old regime and abort the transition to democracy.

“Egypt just witnessed a soft coup,” said Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Doha Center, in a phone interview. “If the parliament is disbanded and the constitution is put on hold and Ahmed Shafik wins the presidency then the transition is effectively over.”

The court, in a ruling issued by its deputy head, Abdel- Wahab Abdel-Razek, in Cairo today, declared unconstitutional a law that barred some former top Mubarak aides from holding senior posts. The legislation could have excluded Shafik from the two-man runoff vote if it had been upheld.

The court also found that part of the law under which the parliament was elected was illegal, as it allowed parties to field nominees for seats earmarked for independent candidates. That ruling is irreversible and means the entire legislature is illegitimate, court spokesman Maher Sami told reporters. The Brotherhood formed the assembly’s largest bloc after winning elections that ended in January.

‘Soft Coup’

The ruling military council, which took power after Mubarak’s overthrow in February last year and says it will hand over to the elected president this month, went into an emergency meeting to discuss the court ruling, state-run Nile News said.

With Egypt’s legislature ruled illegitimate, the generals may take over responsibility for writing a new constitution from parliament, Al Arabiya television reported, without saying how it got the information.

Egypt’s 5.75 percent dollar bonds due in April 2020 retreated, pushing the yield up two basis points to 6.70 percent at 4:15 p.m. in Cairo. The benchmark EGX 30 Index (EGX30) of stocks declined less than 0.1 percent.

‘Turn for Worse’

“Egypt’s political crisis has undoubtedly taken a turn for the worse,” Said Hirsh, a London-based economist at Capital Economics Ltd., said in response to e-mailed questions. He said more social unrest and protests are likely, and investors “will steer clear from Egypt as no clear governance structure or credible economic plan is likely to emerge soon.”

Shafik, addressing supporters in Cairo after the verdict, reiterated his pledges to restore security. He said the military council, the target of protests since it took over from Mubarak, has protected the country from fragmentation.

Shafik has run as the law-and-order candidate and also played on fears of a religious takeover among some Egyptians, promising to keep the state secular.

Mursi, the Brotherhood’s candidate, will continue to contest the election, said Mahmoud Ghozlan, a spokesman for the group. He predicted protests against the court’s ruling on Shafik, adding: “The people completely reject this man.”

‘Major Provocation’

Ahmed Maher, co-founder of the April 6 youth movement that was a major force in last year’s uprising, said by phone that the court’s rulings were a “major provocation” to the revolution. The dissolution of parliament leaves doubt over whether the laws it enacted are legitimate, he said. “It’s all up in the air now.”

Shafik, who finished second behind Mursi in the initial round of voting last month, had been disqualified from the race when the law on Mubarak-era officials was passed in late April. He was reinstated by the election commission when it referred the law to the constitutional court for a decision.

Hatem Bagato, the commission’s secretary-general, said the decision to allow Shafik to run “saved the country from a huge constitutional crisis.” He said the runoff will proceed as planned.