Military Council cannot implement court verdicts: Egypt parliament speaker

The Muslim Brotherhood criticised Saturday the court ruling that dismantled the parliament's lower chamber on Thursday, saying that the ruling military council does not have the right to implement the verdict.

A couple of days ago, the High Constitution Court (HCC) declared Egypt's Parliamentary Elections Law – which regulated last year's legislative polls – to be unconstitutional.

The ruling resulted in the immediate dismantling of the People's Assembly, which the Brotherhood's political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), boasted nearly half of its seats.

The next day, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) – which now holds both the legislative and executive authorities – ordered the management of the lower house of parliament to close its doors in line with Thursday's verdict.

The ruling junta gained its current authorities through the interim constitutional declaration of March 2011 – which Egyptians voted for in a public referendum shortly after the January uprising.

However, the Twitter account of the Brotherhood's English site IkhwanWeb quoted Saad El-Katatni, a Brotherhood leading figure and the speaker of the now-defunct People's Assembly, as saying the constitutional chart "does not grant the SCAF or any other body the power to implement court verdicts."

Another statement published by the same account on the micro-blogging site reads: "The decision to dissolve the parliament can only be made through a public referendum, because the people's will can only be canceled out by the people."

Presidential elections                                           

In another statement on the Brotherhood's official English website IkhwanWeb, the group asked Egyptians to "flock to ballot boxes [in Egypt's presidential elections runoff vote, slated for Saturday and Sunday] to save the revolution from its enemies."

Mursi is vying for Egypt's top post with Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister to serve under deposed president Hosni Mubarak, after they finished in first and second place, respectively in the first round of the elections.

On Thursday, the Constitutional Court also ruled that the Disenfranchisement Law, which was introduced by the parliament in April to prevent the remnants of the former regime from holding governmental decision, is unconstitutional.

Thus, Shafiq's presidential bid remained unscathed.

The Brotherhood, on IkhwanWeb, said the verdict allowed "a pillar of the repressive former regime to run for president."