CAIRO, June 14, 2012 (AFP)
CAIRO, June 14, 2012 (AFP)
Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Mursi said on Thursday that he respected the rulings of Egypt’s top court after it rejected a law that would have barred his presidential rival and found the Islamist-led parliament illegitimate.
“I respect the decision of the Supreme Constitutional Court in that I respect the institutions of the state and the principle of separation of powers,” Mursi told the Dream private satellite channel, but added that he was “dissatisfied” with the rejection of the political isolation law.
The Islamist-dominated parliament in April rushed through a law to bar senior former regime figures such as candidate Ahmed Shafiq, Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister, from standing in the election.
Shafiq came a close second to Mursi in the first round of the election last month.
Mursi said he was confident that “popular isolation and popular rejection is stronger that legal isolation,” referring to this weekend’s presidential vote.
The ruling military, in charge since Mubarak’s ouster in an uprising early last year, has said it would hand power to the elected president by the end of this month.
The uncertain transition has been thrown into further disarray by Thursday’s ruling which annulled parliament. The new president’s powers were to have been defined by a constituent assembly appointed by parliament this week.
