Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood questioned on Sunday the difference between the Shura Council verdict issued by the High Constitutional Court and the ruling that dissolved the Parliament’s lower house, People's Assembly, last year.
Earlier on Sunday, Egypt's High Constitutional Court (HCC) ruled unconstitutional an article regulating the election of independent MPs to the Shura Council, the upper house of parliament. The ruling dictates that the Upper House will be dissolved after a new House of Representatives, the lower house of parliament, is formed.
"We wished that a similar verdict would have been issued annulling only the one-third of independents and not dissolve the whole people’s assembly. In that case, we could have spared the country many of the troubles it went through," spokesman of the Muslim Brotherhood Ahmed Aref told Egyptian state-owned news agency MENA.
Aref added that the court’s decision dictates that the Shura Council will remain in place, and practice its legislative role.
On 14 June 2012, the High Constitutional Court called for the dissolution of the Islamist-led parliament after ruling that one-third of seats in the lower house assigned to independents had been wrongfully won by candidates linked to political parties.
Freedom and Justice Party’s (FJP) media consultant Murad Ali said the ruling by the HCC "changes nothing on real grounds," adding that the Shura Council verdict stated the council continues to practice its legislative role until the House of Representatives is formed.
Article 230 of the constitution states that the Shura Council cannot be dissolved until the House of Representatives convenes.
Ali also questioned why the High Constitutional Court’s ruling on the Shura Council annulled only one-third of its members, "while last year it insisted on annulling the people’s assembly as a whole, even though the laws are the same."
"Indications continue to reveal that some are throwing the judiciary inside the political battle," added Ali.
