CAIRO, Dec 3, 2012 (AFP)
CAIRO, Dec 3, 2012 (AFP)
The main developments in Egypt since the election of the country’s first Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi, in May:
– May 23-24, 2012: Egyptians vote in the first round of the country’s first free presidential election, 15 months after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak in a popular uprising.
– June 14: Egypt’s constitutional court rules that the Islamist-dominated parliament elected after Mubarak’s overthrow is invalid.
– June 16-17: Egyptians vote in a second-round runoff between Morsi and Mubarak’s last premier Ahmed Shafiq.
– June 17: The ruling military council issues an amended constitutional document giving it sweeping powers, including legislative control.
– June 30: Morsi takes the oath of office to become Egypt’s first freely elected leader and its first head of state since Mubarak’s overthrow.
– July 8: Morsi issues a decree annulling the Supreme Court’s dissolution of the Islamist-dominated parliament. On the 10th, Egypt’s top court freezes Morsi’s decree reinstating parliament.
– July 24: Morsi names former irrigation minister Hisham Qandil as prime minister. On August 2, he unveils a new cabinet that retains military chief Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi as defence minister while giving the ruling Islamists and their allies several portfolios.
– August 12: Morsi replaces Defence Minister Tantawi and sends him into retirement, and scraps the constitutional document which handed sweeping powers to the military. He appoints a vice president Mahmud Mekki.
– October 12: More than 120 are injured as supporters of Morsi clash with opponents in Tahrir Square.
– November 21: US President Barack Obama calls Morsi to thank him for his role in negotiating a truce between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza.
– November 22: Morsi assumes sweeping new powers and dismisses prosecutor general Abdel Meguid Mahmud, prompting prominent opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei to accuse him of usurping authority and becoming a “new pharoah”.
– November 23: First protests against Morsi’s new powers, including the start of a sit-in at Tahrir Square.
– November 30: The Islamist-dominated constituent assembly adopts a draft constitution that will be put to a referendum. The vote is boycotted by liberals and Christians.
– December 1: Islamists rally in support of Morsi’s new expanded powers a day after tens of thousands of Morsi opponents converged on Tahrir Square.
– December 2: Egypt’s top court says it has begun an open-ended strike after Islamist protesters blocked the courthouse ahead of a key ruling.
Egypt’s Judges Club, which represents judges across the country, announces that it will not supervise a referendum on the draft constitution.
– December 3: Egypt’s most senior judges announce they will delegate judicial officers to oversee the referendum.
