Court decision on polls could break Egypt’s political deadlock

Cairo: A ruling by an Egyptian court blocking next month’s controversial parliamentary elections provides a way out of the country’s months-long political crisis, according to politicians.

The Administrative Court on Wednesday halted President Mohammad Mursi’s call for the four-stage vote that was due to begin on April 22. The court said that the Islamist president acted outside his jurisdiction by issuing the decree on elections without discussing it with the government as the new constitution dictates.

The court also ordered the referral of a divisive poll law to the Supreme Constitutional Court for review.

“This is not a mere court ruling. It is a gift from the heavens,” said prominent opposition leader Amr Moussa.

“Delaying the elections creates a new situation pertaining to the status of the vote, preparations and its credibility,” he added in remarks published Thursday.

Moussa, a former presidential contender, is a leading member of the main opposition bloc, the National Salvation Front, which has said it will boycott the polls, citing a lack of “guarantees for fair and free elections”.

Mursi’s office said it would abide by the ruling “in full respect for the rule of law”. Mursi’s legal advisor, Mohammad Fouad Jadallah told the private Al Hayat TV that the presidential office will not appeal against the ruling.

“The court ruling comes to confirm the soundness of the Front’s decision on boycotting the elections, which would have been based on a defective and unconstitutional law,” Wahid Abdul Majuid, a senior official in the National Salvation Front, said.

The opposition claims that the electoral law, approved by the Islamist-dominated Shura Council or the upper house of parliament, has been drafted to favour Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood.

“Elections cannot be held in these bad circumstances in the country,” Abdul Majuid told Gulf News.

Egypt has been gripped in recent months by a sharp dispute between Mursi and the secular-minded opposition, which accuses the Islamist president of failing to fulfil the objectives of the revolt that brought him to power in June last year. The country’s economy is also in the doldrums.

Mursi’s Brotherhood, meanwhile, accuses the opposition of lacking in a wide grassroots base and of seeking to oust the country’s first democratically elected president.

The dispute has occasionally developed into deadly street fighting between Mursi’s opponents and supporters. Moreover, at least 60 people have been killed since late January in clashes between anti-Mursi protesters and police, mainly in the volatile city of Port Saeed.

The Brotherhood, who has repeatedly advocated holding the elections as scheduled, was apparently unnerved by the court decision.

“The ruling and its reasons mean that the Constitutional Court is doing a legislative job, which is not within its jurisdiction,” Essam Al Erian, a senior Brotherhood official, said in a tweet. “We are consulting with other political parties on how to deal with the ruling and its consequences.”

Still, other Islamist politicians unhesitatingly welcomed the ruling. “It saves millions of pounds, which would have been spent on questionable elections,” said Younis Makhyoun, the head of the influential ultra-conservative Al Nur Party.

He added that the move would also help revive a bid by his party to defuse political tensions in the country.

In June, the top court dissolved the legislature where the Brotherhood held nearly half of the seats. Egypt has since been without a legislature with legislative authority temporarily given to the Shura Council.