E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Mohamed Abd El Ghany / Reuters
Protesters opposing Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi's rule clash with police near Tahrir Square, Cairo on Wednesday.
News analysis
CAIRO – A court order to suspend parliamentary elections has been welcomed as a victory for the rule of law in Egypt and a rebuff to recent power grabs by the country’s president, Mohamed Morsi.
The Egyptian Administrative Court ruled Wednesday that elections for a lower house of parliament, scheduled to begin April 22, should be indefinitely postponed. By doing so, they overturned an earlier presidential decree, undermining Morsi's political authority.
The court claims that the Shura Council, which bears legislative powers until a lower house is elected and instituted, made amendments to election law and sent it to the president's office without clearing them with the court.
Political uncertainty and unrest have gripped Egypt for months, as economic difficulties compound public concern that Morsi, a figurehead of the Muslim Brotherhood, is taking the country increasingly toward Islamic rule.
Opposition groups, represented by the National Salvation Front, welcomed the court’s decision. They had already planned to boycott the elections, calling them anti-democratic and accusing them of being biased in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliated Freedom and Justice Party (FJP).
"We have succeeded in halting elections in order to correct the constitutional shame that has struck our constitution ever since new articles were added without being presented to the constitutional court," Ahmed Mahran, a law professor and Director of the Cairo Centre for Political and Legal Studies, said in a statement.
Mahran said he believed the Shura Council and the presidency had to be kept in check by the power of Egypt's judicial law.
"Those who presume to respect the law, constitution, and judiciary decisions must prove the truth of their allegations," he added.
“To those who think of Egypt as their estate: We will protect Egypt from the pretenders and their perfidy, and continue to confront political thuggery with the law…”
Egypt's president may impose full military control in Port Said following deadly clashes between police and protesters. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
Wednesday’s ruling can be appealed, but the FJP has already indicated it will accept the decision – a move that left many experts questioning whether the group had a change of heart.
Political commentator and publisher Hisham Kassem believes Morsi has been forced to abide by the court's decision in order to save his own future.
Kassem said the president has been raising the political stakes “until it backfired and put him in a corner and it looks like he is going to pay the price for his previous mistakes.”
He added: "Today's newspaper headline reads, 'The Court halts parliamentary election and the presidency respects the process.' That should not be a headline."
In other words, Kassem believes Morsi wouldn’t ordinarily respect rule of law – unless, as he said earlier, it’s to Morsi's benefit.
But some think Morsi’s acquiescence to the court ruling is linked to his meeting last week with Secretary of State John Kerry.
"John Kerry…didn't come [to Egypt] to vacation…but to tap [Morsi] on the head and say 'get your act together, make concessions to the competition, this is not the environment for free and fair elections,'" said Mona Makram Ebeid, a political science professor, Coptic Christian and member of the Shura Council.
"We are still very dependent on the U.S. so I think this was the real message. It came the day after Kerry left," Ebeid added.
But Kassem thinks U.S. leverage is not enough to bail Morsi out of Egypt's growing economic and political quagmire.
"Kerry did speak to him about having to abide by political consensus,” he said. “I do not know whether it had impact, but at this point Morsi is damned, nobody can save him."
NBC News' Charlene Gubash contributed to this report.
Related:
Leave a Comment:
In the first picture, which are the police and which are the protesters?
You as a good question backtobasics. The riot police have the helmets on and are protecting the crowd of people. They will always protect the people and stand against those who want to throw rocks, etc. The riot police are a different branch of the military than the antiquities or traffic police. A good way to think (or visualize the military) is to picture an umbrella. Each spoke that is under the umbrella is a different branch of the military. You have the Ambulance and EMS people under one spoke, the traffic police under another, the fire dept. as another spoke. This is why the U.S. says that Egypt has the largest military. It is rather different than what we know of in the U.S.
Morsi must go.
.
It is the people that have to stand up for the rights. Just as we did 200+ years ago, the people of Egypt have to be willing to give their lives for a better future. Glad to see John Kerry did not beat around the bush!
Wow, that sure sounds familiar with what Dumbummer wants to pull here. Watch out America and don't concern yourself with Egypt. They are a lost cause for quite some time due to their beloved Muslim jerks.
Stupid, nonsensical rubbish.
I agree with shipwrecked. We should not meddle in other country's affairs, particularly the ME (Syria and Egypt) where the islamists are sure to take over. We need to cut off all aid to Egypt and use the money here at home.
Egypt is in North Africa and a very different culture than Syria. However, I agree with you that some of the aid should be cut off. That is the aid we (The U.S.) has given directly to Pres. Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. The Aid that was already promised to the Egyptian Military should remain intact.
Many people do not realize that Egypt is not considered the Middle East. Geographically, it is in North Africa. If you were to study Egypt at the University level you would study it in Oriental Studies....NOT Middle Eastern Studies. You would also study it in Archeology or Egyptology.
I hope this helps you with your understanding.
I don't care if "islamacists" take over a country, per se. All that means is that they want to run the country by islamic principles, as opposed to a military dictatorship (in the case of egypt and syria). If that is what they want, that is their choice.
Now, if the country supports terrorists or military action against allies, that's another story.
Now, the aid to the egyptian military is a good way to keep them on our side and constrain the islamcists in egypt, as we've already seen. Not a bad investment. The military knows that, to keep the aid going, they have to make sure that egypt doesn't support terrorism or attack isreal, for example. The generals like the perks our aid buys.
So John Kerry rode into town, bitch-slapped Morsi up-side the head and all is now right in Egypt?
Uh-huh.
Hilarious.
did anyone say that "all is now right in egypt"?
uh-huh.
Hilarious. :)
Secretary of State Kerry would have made more of an impact had he also met with Dr. El Baredi, Amr Moussa, & H. H. Pope Tadros. He would have also made an impact on many of us as U.S. citizens had he gone to the American Embassy and changed the rude and horrible American personelle. (Possibly including the Ambassador AND NCIS Agent on staff). They have done more harm to the U.S. than anyone else in Egypt.
In fairness to Secretary of State Kerry, I believe he did meet with the Arab League though.
Hmmm...maybe Morsi is concerned that he will get the cell next to Mobarak when all is said and done. It happened to Pierre-René Rogue during the French revolution...why not Morsi too. When you spend to much time calling for someones head yours is sure to be next.