An Egyptian court on Apr 10 halted a move to create a new constitutional assembly pending a ruling on its legality, challenging the legitimacy of a body spurned by liberal and Christian groups because of its domination by Islamists. The administrative court in Cairo said it was “suspending the constituent assembly” without explaining the reasons. The injunction slapped on the decision by Parliament could delay the introduction of a constitution needed urgently to clarify the powers of Egypt’s new head of state, due to take over from ruling generals by mid-year.
The government and Parliament had argued that the court had no authority over the move to form the constituent assembly. But Judge Ali Fekri said the court “rejected the argument that the court is not specialised and decided to halt the decision” that formed the assembly. He passed on the case’s documents to a judicial panel for a review. This case is one of several lawsuits that had demanded the dissolution of the assembly because it did not represent the diversity of Egyptian society. Lawyer Khaled Abo Bakr said the court’s capacity to review the case rested on whether Parliament’s step to form the assembly was legally seen as an administrative decision.