Egypt’s Morsi annuls dissolution of parliament

(AFP) – Egypt’s new President Mohamed Morsi issued a decree on Sunday annulling the Supreme Court’s dissolution of the Islamist-dominated parliament, the official MENA news agency reported.

“President Morsi has issued a presidential decree annulling the decision taken on June 15, 2012 to dissolve the people’s assembly, and invites the chamber to convene again and to exercise its prerogatives,” MENA said.

It said the decree stipulates “the organisation of elections for the chamber, 60 days after the approval by referendum of the country’s new constitution and the adoption of a new law regulating parliament.”

Egypt’s top court made the controversial move last month, a day before the second round of the presidential election that saw the Islamist Morsi become Egypt’s first democratically elected head of state.

The Supreme Constitutional Court had said certain articles in the law governing parliamentary elections were invalid, annulling the Islamist-led house.

It also ruled as unconstitutional the political isolation law, which sought to bar senior members of ousted president Hosni Mubarak’s regime and top members of his now-dissolved party from running for public office for 10 years.

Morsi beat Ahmed Shafiq — Mubarak’s last prime minister — in the presidential election.

In the absence of a parliament — in which nearly half of the seats had been won by the Muslim Brotherhood and another quarter by hardline Salafists — the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces itself assumed legislative power.

The Brotherhood, formerly headed by Morsi, accused the SCAF of seeking to monopolise power and demanded a referendum.

Morsi’s decree was quickly rejected by Egypt’s top court, setting them on a collision course with the military which says the rule of law must be respected.

“All the rulings and decisions of the Supreme Constitutional Court are final and not subject to appeal… and are binding for all state institutions,” the court said in a statement.

The powerful Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which handed the rules of power back to Morsi last month after he was elected, echoed the court in a statement saying the constitution and rule of law must be upheld.

The SCAF, which ruled Egypt after former president Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year, underlined the “importance of the constitution in light of the latest developments,” the official MENA news agency reported.

Islamists scored a crushing victory in three-stage parliamentary elections held from November last year, with the Muslim Brotherhood, Morsi’s former organisation, heading the lower house.

But the military dissolved parliament last month after the top court made its controversial ruling a day before the second round of the presidential poll that saw Morsi become Egypt’s first democratically elected head of state.

The Supreme Constitutional Court had said certain articles in the law governing the parliamentary elections were invalid, annulling the Islamist-led house.

But Morsi on Sunday ordered the lower house to reconvene, and parliament speaker Saad al-Katatni has invited members to meet at 2:00 pm (1200 GMT) on Tuesday, in line with the presidential decree.

The Muslim Brotherhood said it “will participate (Tuesday) in a million-man march in support of the president’s decision and reinstating parliament.”

The court’s move could spark a confrontation between Morsi, who stepped down from the Brotherhood when he was sworn in last month, and the SCAF as well as the judiciary.

But the presidency insisted the decree “neither contradicts nor contravenes the ruling by the constitutional court.”