Cairo: Egypt's newly-elected parliament yesterday lashed out at the country's military rulers for unilaterally endorsing a law on presidential election.
Parliament went on to voice its intentions to revise the law.
"We refuse this law in its present form and demanded it be debated by the parliament before its approval," Hussain Ebrahim, a lawmaker for the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, told parliament.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which has ruled Egypt since long-standing president Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down last year, had published the controversial law on January 19 in the Official Gazette — four days before the new parliament convened its inaugural session.
The military regime is under mounting pressure to expedite the transfer of power to an elected civilian administration.
Confusing manner
"The issuance of this law in this way violates all regulations and exposes the confusing manner adopted by the [ruling] military council," Amr Hamzawi, a liberal lawmaker, told parliament yesterday.
"This behaviour should quicken procedures for holding presidential election and power handover."
The military rulers have pledged to hold presidential vote in mid-June and transfer power by July.
However, anti-military activists, currently staging current protests in Tahrir Square and outside a state television building in Cairo, are pressing for an early power transfer.
Sa'ad Al Katatni, the Islamist Speaker of Parliament, yesterday demanded that the law setting rules for the presidential election be referred to the legislature.
"The parliament is the only body having the right to enact laws," he concluded, signalling the first showdown between the Islamist-dominated parliament and the military.
There was no immediate comment from the military.
Outside parliament, several hundred protesters rallied calling on lawmakers to press the military rulers to hold speedier and fair trials for former regime officials and settle retribution claims by the families of those killed during protests.
