CAIRO, (Reuters) – Egypt’s supreme court ruled yesterday to dissolve the Islamist-led parliament, plunging a troubled transition to democracy into turmoil just two days before an election to replace ousted leader Hosni Mubarak.
Islamists who gained most from Mubarak’s overthrow decried what they called a “coup” by an army-led establishment still full of Mubarak-era officials. They said the street movement that spurred last year’s uprising would not let it pass.
The parliamentary vote earlier this year had swept long repressed Islamists into a commanding position in the legislature, a feat the Muslim Brotherhood had aimed to repeat with their candidate in Saturday and Sunday’s presidential vote.
Those parliamentary gains will now be put back up for grabs in a new election.
In a further setback for the Islamists, the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that Mubarak’s last prime minister, Ahmed Shafik, could stay in the presidential race against the Brother-hood’s Mohamed Morsy.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States expected Egypt’s military authorities to fully transfer power to a democratically elected civilian government.
“There can be no going back on the democratic transition called for by the Egyptian people,” Clinton told reporters, declining specific comment about the court ruling.
The Muslim Brotherhood said the court rulings indicated Egypt was heading into “very difficult days that might be more dangerous than the last days of Mubarak’s rule”.
“All the democratic gains of the revolution could be wiped out and overturned with the handing of power to one of the symbols of the previous era,” it said.
Morsy pledged to press ahead with his presidential bid regardless and warned against foul play of the type that was typical of elections in Mubarak’s days.
“If there is any forgery, there will be a huge revolution against the criminals … a huge revolution until we realise the complete goals of the Jan. 25 revolution,” he said, referring to the uprising against Mubarak.
Outside the constitutional court, protesters chanted “Down, down with military rule” and hurled stones at troops lined up in a security cordon. A few hundred also gathered in Tahrir Square.
Shafik, a former military man appointed premier in the last days of Mubarak’s rule, hailed the rulings as “historic”.
“The ruling regarding parliament includes the dissolution of the lower house of parliament in its entirety,” the head of the constitutional court, Farouk Soltan, told Reuters.
A new vote will have to be called by the executive powers, said Soltan, who was appointed by Mubarak.
The court had earlier ruled to overturn a law passed by the Islamist-led parliament that would have blocked senior Mubarak-era officials from the presidential race, legislation designed to keep Shafik and others out.
‘A COMPLETE COUP’
For 16 months since Mubarak was toppled after 30 years in office, a transition overseen by generals has been beset by political bickering, protests and often bloodshed.
But many Egyptians had at least taken some reassurance from the calm conduct of the parliamentary election and the prospect of a presidential poll even though the process of writing a new constitution to define the president’s powers is in deadlock.
Now even those gains are being plunged into doubt, although the army said the presidential poll would go ahead on time.
A senior member of the Brotherhood’s political party, which swept up the biggest bloc of seats in parliament, said Egypt was entering a “dark tunnel” if parliament was dissolved.
