Archive for dissolution of Parliament

Former MPs to stage sit-in before Constitutional Court

by admin
November 15th, 2012

Twenty former members of the dissolved parliament are staging a three-day sit-in before the Supreme Constitutional Court while it reviews lawsuits challenging the dissolution of parliament filed by citizen Anwar Sobhi Darweesh and former MP Mohamed al-Omda, former MP.

Omda told state-owned news agency MENA that the unconstitutionality of individual seats should not have spelled the dissolution of the whole of parliament.

Omda added that the sit-in aims to draw attention to the harm that resulted from dissolving the parliament and thereby hampering the legislative authority from performing its duty while the country was going through hard times. He pointed also to the costs and dangers that may result from re-staging parliamentary elections.

In June, the Supreme Constitutional Court decreed unconstitutionality of  the parliamentary elections law and ordered its dissolution. The court then affirmed the ruling once again after President Mohamed Morsy had issued a presidential decree that canceled the court ruling and ordered parliament to be reinstated. Parliament met just once after this decree.

Former MP and Deputy Chief of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party Essam al-Erian called on Morsy to put parliament reinstatement to a public referendum. “Why wouldn’t the president hold referendum on reinstatement of a parliament that was elected by 32 million Egyptians,” he said.

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Brotherhood protests outside court, Bakry calls demonstrations ‘unjustified’

by admin
July 17th, 2012

Hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters rallied outside the State Council Tuesday, ahead of an anticipated Administrative Court ruling on the dissolution of Parliament.

Strict security measures were imposed in the area while demonstrators chanted slogans backing President Mohamed Morsy and supporting the reinstatement of the People’s Assembly.

The court is expected to rule Tuesday on challenges to the formation of the Constituent Assembly, elected by Parliament in June to draft Egypt’s new constitution. The new formation could have a fate similar to the previous one, which was annulled in April due to its disproportionate representation of Islamists and the inclusion of MPs. But the possibility of its dissolution could be ruled out after Morsy approved on Sunday a law issued by Parliament setting criteria for the panel’s formation, thus requiring the case to be referred to the Supreme Constitutional Court.

The Administrative Court is also expected to rule on lawsuits demanding the dissolution of the Shura Council, in line with the dissolution of the People’s Assembly by the Supreme Constitutional Court in June.  Additionally, the court is also considering numerous challenges to Morsy’s decision to reinstate the People’s Assembly, which was later overruled by the constitutional court, as well as challenges to the supplement to the Constitutional Declaration issued by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces in June. The supplement sharply curtailed the elected president’s powers.

Pro-SCAF MP Mostafa Bakry called the protests an “unjustified escalation,” saying that their goal was to terrorize judges.

“If the court rules that the Constituent Assembly should be annulled, the SCAF should make a new formation representing all social stripes,” Bakry said in a tweet Tuesday.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm   

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Revolutionary group calls for disbanding supreme court

by admin
July 11th, 2012

The Union of Revolutionary Youth called on President Mohamed Morsy to dissolve the Supreme Constitutional Court, in a statement Wednesday, saying the judiciary needs to be immediately purged of Mubarak’s men to build a sound democratic system.

They added that the continuation of the current court poses a threat to the revolution.

"The SCC is the wall the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces built to counter the revolution after it created the illusion that it had handed full powers to the people,” the statement said. “The supplement to the Constitutional Declaration keeps power in the hands of the SCAF, while the SCC does its utmost to implement the declaration.”

Mohamed al-Saeed, general coordinator for the union and a member of the Constituent Assembly, said that the court’s ruling to freeze Morsy's decision to restore parliament was defective, and questioned why judges did not protest when the American citizens charged in the foreign-funded NGO's case were released and traveled back to the US.

The SCC ruled to stop the implementation of the president's invitation to Parliament to resume its sessions on Tuesday.

The court ordered the implementation of its previous ruling that invalidated the parliamentary elections law and called for the dissolution of parliament.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Defying army, People’s Assembly to meet Tuesday

by admin
July 9th, 2012

Egypt’s parliamentary speaker said the chamber would reconvene on Tuesday, risking a showdown with the army after the new, Islamist president defied the generals by quashing the dissolution of the legislature they had ordered last month.

Quoted by state news agency MENA on Monday, Saad al-Katatny — who, like President Mohamed Morsy, hails from the long-suppressed Muslim Brotherhood — said the lower house would sit from noon on Tuesday, overturning a court judgment and military order issued a month ago, before Morsy’s election.

The move, heralded by a decree issued by Morsy on Sunday — barely a week after he took office — threatens Egypt with fresh political uncertainty likely to take a toll on a fragile economy and dash the hopes of many desperate for a period of calm after 17 turbulent months since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak.

However, in a signal that relations have far from broken down between Morsy and the army, the president and the head of the military council appeared together, looking relaxed and in conversation, at a televised event on Monday morning.

The military council, which had run Egypt since Mubarak was toppled by popular protests in February last year, handed powers to Morsy on 30 June, but it had sought to trim his authority shortly before he took office following a vote on 16 and 17 June. It had dissolved Parliament and taken legislative power for itself.

Yet in a move that seemed to take even the generals by surprise, Morsy said on Sunday he was recalling Parliament and would hold an election once a constitution was in place, meaning that Parliament would not serve a full four-year term.

The row is part of a broader power struggle that could take years to play out, pitting Islamists against generals whose fellow officers ran Egypt for six decades and an establishment still packed with Mubarak-era officials.

But the immediate impact may be to make it more difficult for the president to stabilize an economy fast heading toward a balance of payments and budget crisis. The stock market reacted to Sunday’s news by plunging more than 5 percent at the open.

“Early confrontation,” wrote Al-Akhbar newspaper, summing up a decision which could end a brief honeymoon with the military council, led by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi.

Yet Morsy and Tantawi showed no hint of discord on Monday when the president, as he did last week, attended a military parade. Seated next to each other, Morsy and Tantawi turned to each other in a brief jovial exchange, live television images showed.

And in a possible signal that the generals would not openly challenge Morsy, the state news agency reported that guards at Parliament allowed some members back into the building after it had been declared off limits when the army ordered it dissolved.

Some analysts said Morsy’s decision to order early elections could offer a compromise by acknowledging the court's assertion that the election to the chamber breached some legal rules.

But even if the army does not seek an open row, Morsy could be setting himself on a course for confrontation with liberal and other politicians and the judiciary.

“The decree is overturning a state where the rule of law reigns. I advise you, Mr. President, to withdraw it because you swore to respect the law and the constitution,” said Egyptian rights activist Hafez Abu Seada, writing on Twitter.

Legal questions

“The president cancels the decision of the field marshal,” wrote the daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, while Al-Mal business daily carried the banner headline: “Back to your barracks.”

The generals met late on Sunday to discuss Morsy’s decree but did not release a statement. The Supreme Constitutional Court, which on 14 June ordered the lower house of Parliament dissolved, said it would meet on Monday to review the move.

Farouk Sultan, who headed the court when it dismissed the Parliament citing flaws in the election rules, said Morsy’s decision had no legal basis. Sultan had administered the oath of office to Morsy on 30 June, before his term on the court ended.

Though some officials in Morsy’s Muslim Brotherhood had indicated that they interpreted the current, interim rules as giving the president the legal authority to recall Parliament, analysts had expected the president to take a more cautious approach to avoid a head-on clash.

The military council has less formal room for maneuver now that it has transferred presidential powers to Morsy, so the public drama may play out in prolonged wrangling in the courts.

“I am not sure that power struggles played out in the legal sphere, and which add to the legal uncertainty of the past year and a half are healthy — either for us or the rule of law,” said Heba Morayef of Human Rights Watch.

Morsy, however, is in a position unthinkable a year and half ago, when the Brotherhood was still banned and its members hounded by Mubarak — even if the army has stripped his presidency of some of the authority the office enjoyed under Mubarak, such as being supreme commander of the armed forces.

Economic crisis

In one of his most high-profile meetings since taking office, Morsy met US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns at the presidential palace on Sunday, signaling the new ties Washington is forging with resurgent Islamists in the region.

Burns pledged that the US, which grants the Egyptian armed forces US$1.3 billion a year in military aid, would support Egypt’s economy, which has been hemorrhaging cash and is heading for a balance of payments and budget crisis.

Once a darling of emerging market fund managers, Egypt has watched foreign investors flee and its vital tourist trade has taken a big knock from the turmoil of the last year and a half.

Foreign reserves have plunged to about $15.5 billion, less than half their level before anti-Mubarak protests erupted, and the government has been forced to pay double-digit interest rates, seen as unsustainable, to fund its spending.

“Already domestic financing has reached a critical stage where you can’t rely totally on the market anymore,” said one Western diplomat. The government was running up payment arrears with energy suppliers and raising funds from the central bank, the diplomat noted — tactics sustainable only for a short time.

Adding to the murky outlook that is unsettling investors, legal wrangling looks set to continue. Following the judges’ dissolution of Parliament and scrapping of a constitutional drafting panel appointed by Parliament, further challenges in the courts could yet derail a second drafting panel.

As well as facing scrutiny by the Supreme Constitutional Court, Morsy’s decision to recall Parliament may also be challenged by rivals in the courts. Lawyer and liberal MP Abul Ezz al-Hariry told Reuters he would file a suit on Monday. Hariry was a presidential candidate who fell out of the race in the first round.

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Court postpones lawsuits against Parliament dissolution, constitutional supplement

by admin
June 26th, 2012

The Administrative Court on Tuesday decided to delay ruling on lawsuits appealing the dissolution of Parliament and the recently-issued supplementary Constitutional Declaration until 7 and 10 July, respectively.

Former presidential candidate and human rights activist Khaled Ali, The Arab Network for Human Rights Information and the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression had filed a lawsuit before the court against controversial additions to the interim constitution issued by the ruling military council last week that largely diminishes the powers of the country’s elected president.

The same court had also started considering other lawsuits by the speaker of the dissolved People’s Assembly, Mohamed Saad al-Katatny, assembly member Essam Sultan, and lawyer Nizar Ghorab against an earlier ruling by the Supreme Constitutional Court which dissolved the assembly, citing the unconstitutionality of the electoral law.

The petitioners challenged the constitutional court’s jurisdiction and the constitutionality of the ruling military’s ensuing decision to dissolve the parliament.

They said denying MPs entry to the assembly’s building was a flagrant breach of their legal rights as representatives of the Egyptian people.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Update: Ten of thousands rally in Tahrir

by admin
June 20th, 2012

Tens of thousands of protesters took to Tahrir Square on Tuesday night to protest the Constitutional Declaration supplement that would drastically expand the military council's authority and limit the power of the coming president.

Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, the Salafi preacher who was disqualified from the presidential race in April, Abu Ismail gave an inflammatory speech to protesters in Tahrir Square, in which he described the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces as “rivals of the people,” calling on demonstrators to stay at the iconic site until the junta hands over power.

Abu Ismail said that the supplement to the interim constitution issued by the SCAF was akin to “military occupation.” He chanted, “Get out, get out!” and the masses repeated after him.

He said that he remained silent during the last few weeks out of respect for the presidential election. “Now, there is only one requirement: that the military council leaves immediately,” he said. “Otherwise, we shall take the powers the council gave itself, even if we have to die for it.”

“We will not allow the military to write the constitution,” he said. “Nor should the future of the country be in the hands of 20 people.”

“The next president will not be a puppet, nor will the people be insects smashed by the feet of the military,” he said.

A number of MPs held a session in Tahrir Square Tuesday night after police stopped them from entering the Parliament building.

“The military council had no right to dissolve Parliament,” said FJP MP Mohamed al-Beltagy, adding that the Egyptian people are waiting for Mohamed Morsy, whom he already called the president-elect, to be sworn in in Tahrir Square.

A group of Muslim Brotherhood protesters from Suez joined the demonstration in Tahrir, chanting slogans against military council head Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi and for the martyrs of the 25 January revolution.

Demonstrators marching to Tahrir from Maspero, the state media building, chanted, “The army is in our heart, the military council is against us” and “We swear with the martyr’s blood to have a new revolution.”

The April 6 Youth Movement led a march from the Mostafa Mahmoud Mosque in Mohandiseen to Tahrir. April 6 spokesperson Mahmoud Afify told Al-Masy Al-Youm that the movement rejects the military council’s coup and the dissolution of Parliament.

Hundreds protested at the Parliament building near Tahrir, chanting, “Down with military rule” and “Legitimacy to Parliament.” Some MPs from the dissolved Parliament joined the protest.

Former MP Mohamed al-Omda told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the MPs demand that parliamentary sessions be held to continue on the democratic path.

A march from Cairo’s Ramses Square arrived in Tahrir Tuesday evening, as did a group of Egyptians from Assiut in Upper Egypt. They raised a banner reading, “The people of Assiut reject the dissolution of Parliament” and chanted slogans against military rule.

Muslim Brotherhood members began setting up a stage and a podium for the group, one of the main participants in the demonstration.

A number of political and revolutionary forces had called for the protest. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces issued the Constitutional Declaration supplement as vote counting began for the presidential runoff on Sunday night.

Protesters carried Egyptian flags and chanted, “Down with military rule” and Speak up, don’t be afraid… the SCAF must leave.”

Political groups participating in the protest — including the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, the Salafi Nour Party, the moderate Islamist Wasat Party, Jama’a al-Islamiya, the April 6 Youth Movement and the Revolutionary Socialists — also rejected the dissolution of Parliament and the Defense Ministry decree that allows military police to investigate and arrest civilians.

The Muslim Brotherhood mobilized thousands of its members from a number of governorates to participate in the protest.

In Sharqiya Governorate, bus stops were filled with people on their way to Cairo, while the Brotherhood provided a number of buses to transport people directly to Tahrir Square.

A Muslim Brotherhood leader in Sharqiya, Sayed Abdel Hamid, said the group “refuses the supplement to the Constitutional Declaration that prolongs the transitional period and strips away the next president’s powers.”

The FJP in Gharbiya Governorate also bussed people to Tahrir.  

Mohamed al-Masry, the FJP’s secretary in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Sohag, said that some 5,000 members of the FJP, the Construction and Development Party and the Nour Party, as well as a number of revolutionary coalitions and various political forces in Aswan and Sohag, had travelled to Cairo in order to participate in the protest.

In Kafr al-Sheikh, Ayman Hegazi, an FJP spokesman, said that hundreds of Brotherhood members, along with members of other political movements, had gone to Cairo to join the protest in Tahrir.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Tuesday’s papers: ‘The crises holding Egypt hostage’

by admin
June 19th, 2012

Tuesday’s papers have a list of disasters to choose from, so much so that on its front page, Al-Watan lists “the crises holding Egypt hostage” in numerical, bullet-point form: the new president and appeals concerning election irregularities, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces’ supplement to the Constitutional Declaration and the dissolution of Parliament.

Two former MPs, Mohamed al-Omda and Mahmoud al-Khodeiry, made an attempt to enter Parliament on Monday but were prevented from doing so by security.

Government mouthpiece Al-Gomhurriya reports this on its second page, accompanied by a comment below by another former MP, Ihab Ramzy, who describes the action as “a challenge to the law.” Ramzy says MPs are obliged to respect the law to set examples for others, and that the Supreme Constitutional Court decision dissolving Parliament must be respected.

Ramzy also defends the recent amendment to the Constitutional Declaration, saying SCAF resorted to this “when it felt the majority [in the Constitutional Assembly] would produce a constitution unsuitable for the Egyptian people.”

Al-Watan says the office of the Muslim Brotherhood’s supreme guide and the executive office of its political branch, the Freedom and Justice Party, have agreed to take to the streets if negotiations with SCAF about the current political situation do not bear fruit.

Al-Tahrir’s Ibrahim Mansour launches a scathing attack on the Muslim Brotherhood and its presidential candidate, Mohamed Morsy, in his column today. Early poll results show Morsy won more than 52 percent of the vote.

Mansour says Egyptians who voted for former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq did so “out of hatred for the Muslim Brotherhood, its performance after the revolution, its doing of deals and its selling out of the revolution and revolutionaries.”

Voters “forgave” Morsy for many things, Mansour says: his being the “spare” candidate after Khairat al-Shater; that he was dishonest about the American nationality of his two children; his history of poor health and “the lie spread by his campaign that he was a scientist in the US working for NASA.”

“The man only denied this after NASA denied knowing anyone called Mohamed Morsy,” Mansour writes.

There is a similar tone in Al-Wafd which on its front page declares that “the Muslim Brotherhood and the military are preparing for the Battle of Parliament.”

Below this is a headline reading, “ ‘The group’ [the Muslim Brotherhood] is mobilizing supporters to storm the People’s Assembly,” accompanied by a picture of Omda and Khodeiry’s attempt to enter Parliament.

On its opinion page, Al-Wafd has a column titled “Go to Hell, Assembly” by Essam al-Abeedy that serves as another platform to attack the Brotherhood.

“I haven’t seen happiness on Egyptians’ faces in the past year and a half like the happiness I witnessed last Thursday when the Supreme Constitutional Court issued its judgment on the invalidity of the People’s Assembly and consequent dissolution of it and the end of its existence,” Abeedy writes.

Al-Watan reports in a headline that churches are “not afraid of a religious state.” It quotes an Anglican Church representative as saying that Christians are not worried about the Brotherhood presidential candidate winning the election because “their fate is in the hands of God.”

The office of the Coptic Orthodox Church’s papacy has refused to comment on the Muslim Brotherhood winning the presidency.

Al-Shorouk publishes reactions to the amendment to the Constitutional Declaration from human rights activists and political commentators.

Ahmed Ragheb, executive director of the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, describes the amendment as “legal thuggery.” Ragheb suggests it will lead to SCAF being “the true ruler of Egypt” while the president “will most likely work as a secretary for SCAF.”

Meanwhile, analyst and former MP Wahid Abdel Meguid says, “It was clear weeks ago that SCAF doesn’t intend to hand over power on 30 June. The publication of the amendment to the Constitutional Declaration at this time confirms this.”

Egypt’s papers:

Al-Ahram: Daily, state-run, largest distribution in Egypt

Al-Akhbar: Daily, state-run, second to Al-Ahram in institutional size

Al-Gomhurriya: Daily, state-run

Rose al-Youssef: Daily, state-run

Al-Dostour: Daily, privately owned

Al-Shorouk: Daily, privately owned

Al-Watan: Daily, privately owned

Al-Wafd: Daily, published by the liberal Wafd Party

Youm7: Daily, privately owned

Al-Tahrir: Daily, privately owned

Freedom and Justice: Daily, published by the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party

Sawt al-Umma: Weekly, privately owned

Al-Arabi: Weekly, published by the Nasserist Party

Al-Nour: Official paper of the Salafi Nour Party

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Legal expert criticizes former MPs for attempting to enter Parliament

by admin
June 19th, 2012

A legal expert has described the attempt by two MPs to enter the Parliament building after a court ruling ordered Parliament’s dissolution as “a grave mistake and an insult to the state and law.”

Ahmed Kamal Abul Magd said Tuesday there are other ways to express one’s rejection of the Supreme Constitutional Court ruling.

The head of the People’s Assembly Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee, Mahmoud al-Khodeiry, and his deputy on Monday attempted to enter the Parliament building but were stopped by security.

Abul Magd said protesting against what one views as oppressive is a constitutional right, but that it is wrong to express such rejection in an illegal way.

There is an opportunity for people to express their views in a peaceful, civilized way, he said, adding that he is sad about what happened in front of the People’s Assembly.

The Supreme Constitutional Court last week ordered the dissolution of Parliament, saying the Parliamentary Elections Law was unconstitutional.

Edited translation be MENA

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Political powers call for protest of Constitutional Declaration supplement

by admin
June 19th, 2012

 

Political powers have called for a protest in Tahrir Square Tuesday to reject the Constitutional Declaration supplement issued by the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

Revolutionary and other groups described the supplement as an attempt by SCAF to strip the new president of his powers.

Unofficial voting results show Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsy leads the race, with more than 52 percent of the vote.

Political groups that will participate in the protest ­­— including the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, the Salafi-led Nour Party, the moderate Islamist Wasat Party, Jama’a al-Islamiya, the April 6 Youth Movement and the Revolutionary Socialists — also reject the dissolution of Parliament and the granting of the power of judicial execution to military police.

FJP leader Helmy al-Gazzar said Tuesday’s protest would be staged to voice rejection of the Constitutional Declaration supplement and not to call for overturning the Supreme Constitutional Court’s order to dissolve Parliament.

Gazzar, who said the document would “tie the hands of the new president,” told Al-Qahira Al-Youm show on Monday that Morsy would swear the oath in front of the Supreme Constitutional Court.

He said calls for Morsy to be sworn in in Tahrir represent a revolutionary demand, but added that one has to listen to the voice of reason.

The complementary document gives SCAF extensive powers that sometimes exceed those of the president, he said.

Meanwhile, the Salafi Dawah condemned the issuing of the Constitutional Declaration supplement, saying it would lead to instability and unrest.

The group said in a statement Monday that the document includes extremely dangerous points for the future of the country and its stability, and called on SCAF to cancel it.

The declaration gives the military council the power to set up a constitution-writing assembly if something comes up to prevent the current assembly from carrying out its function.

The Salafi Dawah said this is a brazen defiance of the 19 March 2011 referendum and of the nation’s will to have the assembly elected by its representatives in Parliament.

Meanwhile, Tahrir Square remains calm in anticipation of the protest expected to start in the afternoon.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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FJP: Egyptians will stand against SCAF

by admin
June 18th, 2012

The Egyptian people will fight for democracy against the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces’ recent attempts to stage a coup for power, said the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) on Monday.

The FJP’s warnings came after the recent dissolution of the Islamist-dominated Parliament and the issuance of a complementary constitutional declaration that diminishes the powers of the next president. According to preliminary results, the FJP's candidate Mohamed Morsy will most likely be the incoming president.

 "The Egyptian people will not stop making sacrifices, and will continue the revolution in order to ensure their sovereignty and prevent the domination of the SCAF and their coup against democracy," said a statement released by the FJP.

"The issuance of a complementary constitutional declaration is completely unacceptable because this is no longer within [SCAF's] powers, and the SCAF shall adhere to their promises to the people and hand over the executive authority to the elected president,” the FJP continued.

The party pledged to participate in "all popular events against the constitutional coup and the dissolution of Parliament, starting Tuesday," in reference to  expected protests.

Later, the Muslim Brotherhood also announced participation in Tuesday protests.

Muslim Brotherhood sources said that FJP MPs intend to enter the parliament building on Tuesday to hold a parliamentary session. If prevented from doing so, the session will be held in Tahrir Square.

Sources who spoke on condition of anonymity added that if the session is held in Tahrir Square, it will be attended by Mohamed Morsy until his victory is officially announced, and he is sworn in before the square.

"The SCAF is the third party who leads the counter-revolution," MP Saber Abouel Fotouh from the Freedom of Justice Party told Al-Masry Al-Youm. He added, "That is what the course of events suggests, such as the justice minister granting the military the right to arrest citizens, the dissolution of Parliament, [the verdict of] the unconstitutionality of the Political Isolation Law, and finally the complementary constitutional declaration which strips the authorities of the incoming president.”

On the other hand, former MP Ihab Ramzy of the same party told Al-Masry Al-Youm today that he rejected the attempt of MPs Mahmoud al-Khodairy and  Mohamed Al-Omda to enter the parliament building on Monday.

"A member of Parliament, whether former or current, is a role model of commitment to the law," he said. "The attitude of the MPs is an unacceptable challenge to the SCAF."

Ramzy called on everyone to "accept the ruling to dissolve Parliament based on the unconstitutionality of the law on which parliamentary elections were based.”

"The Supreme Constitutional Court [SCC] issued its verdict on behalf of the people, and accepting its rulings is a declaration of the sovereignty of the people, not, as some say, a form of control,” he added.

On Friday the SCAF officially ordered the People’s Assembly to disband, stipulating that while workers and journalists can still enter the parliament building, MPs are not allowed to convene there.

The order was based on the SCC’s Thursday ruling that the Parliamentary Elections Law was unconstitutional, due to an article that allowed political parties to field candidates for seats that were reserved for independents.

Head of SCC Farouk Sultan called Parliament null and void under the law, and said that an order from the military council was not required for Parliament to be dissolved because it was dissolved by the ruling.

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