http://en.avaaz.org/638/martial-law-returns-to-egyptTwo weeks ago Egypt's temporary leadership lifted a decades-old "state of emergency". Today martial law is back
, in anticipation of a court ruling that could throw the hotly disputed presidential election wide open again and bring demonstrators back to the streets.And, despite agreement on who will write the new democratic constitution
just last week, the new martial law gives back sweeping powers to the military – including the right to arrest civilians for "resisting authorities" and to try them in army courts.
Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Mohamed Mursi has said he would respect Thursday's controversial High Constitutional Court rulings.
"I respect the court's decision, in that I respect state institutions and the principle of the separation of powers," Mursi said in televised comments on Thursday evening. He went on, however, to stress his "dissatisfaction" with the court's ruling against the Political Disenfranchisement Law.
On Thursday afternoon, Egypt's High Constitutional Court declared Egypt's Political Disenfranchisement Law – which had threatened presidential finalist and Mubarak-era PM Ahmed Shafiqwith disqualification from the presidential race – to be unconstitutional. The contentious ruling will allow Shafiq to contest the presidency in a runoff vote against Mursi slated for Saturday and Sunday.
A second ruling, meanwhile, found Egypt's Parliamentary Elections Law – which regulated last year's legislative polls – to be similarly unconstitutional. The latter verdict means that both the People's Assembly and the consultative Shura Council (the lower and upper houses of Egypt's parliament) will likely be dissolved and fresh elections held.
In his televised comments, Mursi urged the Egyptian public "not to heed baseless rumours," going on to vow that, if he is elected president, "figures from the ousted criminal regime will not be allowed to return to political life."
At issue on Thursday was the way in which the People's Assembly was elected, which involved a hybrid ballot, two-thirds of which was meant for political parties and one-third for independents.
The Brotherhood pushed the military to change the rules at the last moment, opening the independent seats for parties, thus hemming in the power of former regime elites to run for election.
But that push now seems to have backfired, with the court ruling that the change to the hybrid system unfairly discriminated against independents.
It relied on that principle to declare those seats invalid, and an election rerun necessary.
Though Egypt's judiciary was long respected as a bulwark of independence, and one of the only checks on ousted president Hosni Mubarak's government, analysts say the court was stacked with Mubarak sympathisers in recent years, perhaps to ease the way for what many believed was a plan to hand the reins of power to his son.
Many viewed the Supreme Constitutional Court's decision on Thursday as deeply political.
Exacerbating the perception were remarks made last week by Ahmed el-Zend, the head of the Judges Club, who declared that judges would not have overseen elections if they had known the parliament they were going to get.
Egyptian presidential candidate Mohammed Morsi gave an interview on Dream 2 on Thursday evening.
"I don't consider this a military coup," he said, responding to a question about the Constitutional Court's decision to dismiss the entire parliament.
"I love the military forces," he said.
Morsi said he does not intend to pull out from the race.
The Muslim Brotherhood appears not to accept the notion that the current parliament will necessarily be disbanded.
About four hours ago the group tweeted "parliament is staying." They have followed up with this explanation:
Supreme Court doesn't have the power to dissolve the parliament, it only decides on constitutionality of the laws
The idea apparently being that there is daylight between the method of election of the parliament (found unconstitutional today) and the legitimacy or viability of the parliament. It is unclear whether the Brotherhood believes that there exists a power – the SCAF or otherwise – that can dissolve parliament.
Egypt's generals awarded themselves sweeping political powers in an 11th-hour constitutional declaration that tied the hands of the country's incoming president and cemented military authority over the post-Mubarak era.
The announcement on Sunday night came as early presidential election results put the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi ahead of his rival Ahmed Shafik, Mubarak's final prime minister and an unabashed champion of the old regime. But with thousands of polling stations yet to declare following the two-day runoff vote, the overall winner was too close to call.
Pro-change activists and human rights campaigners said the junta's constitutional declaration – which came just days after judges extended the army's ability to arrest civilians and following the dissolution of the Brotherhood-dominated parliament by the country's top court – rendered the scheduled handover of power to a democratically elected executive meaningless.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/18/egypts-generals-act-presidential-pollUnder a new constitutional amendments, the military would gain sweeping new powers at the expense of the new president and the now dissolved parliament. They include legislative responsibilities; the power to write the new constitution; powers of arrest; and control over the armed forces and the right to veto wars.
There's a court case coming up in the week to decide whether the Muslim Brotherhood should be outlawed (who the hell is bringing these cases to court?). Hopefully they will ban them and that will force the silly bastards to fight
What's the betting then that bombs start going off which is then used by SCAF to clampdown on the Islamists?