The Egyptian Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) on June 14 issued a decision ruling unconstitutional the law of political isolation (the disenfranchisement law), which effectively means that General Ahmed Shafiq stays in the presidential race, and that parliament’s attempt to disqualify him as one of the pillars of the old corrupt despotic regime did not succeed, Muslim Brotherhood said in a statement on June 15.
“This naturally means that we have only one option to defeat the old guard General which is popular isolation, through the ballot box.
“Meanwhile, a look at the Egyptian scene reveals that the above decision was announced at the same time with another that rules unconstitutional some articles of parliamentary law, and yet another decision – by the interim Minister of Justice – to grant low-ranking military intelligence and military police officers and non-commissioned officers powers to arrest and detain civilians.
“This is effectively a militarisation of the State, which in turn means we are embarking on hard and dangerous days; perhaps more dangerous than the last days of Mubarak’s rule.
“It also means that all the gains of the revolution for democratic change are being squandered by military coup handing over power to one of the most prominent symbols of the despotic former regime, who affirmed in a well-known and very public statement that the former president is his role model, and that “There has not been any revolution” and pledges to quell peaceful demonstrations using military police forces.
“This imposes on us a patriotic duty to join hands together to prevent the return of the former regime. This requires that all fifty million voters turn out to cast their ballots in the presidential election, to isolate the representative of the former regime through the ballot box, and to protect the electoral process against fraud attempts.”