Call for Protests in Egypt Ahead of Presidential Election
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iStockPhoto/Thinkstock(CAIRO) — As Egypt prepares to elect its new president this weekend, liberal activists in Cairo have called for a demonstration Friday evening to protest two rulings made by the country’s highest court on Thursday.
One allows former President Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, to run for president against Mohamed Morsi from the Muslim brotherhood. The other leads to the dissolution of parliament. The freely-elected body was arguably the biggest democratic achievement since the fall of Mubarak last year.
The court rulings sent shockwaves through Egypt, with many accusing the ruling military council of engineering a judicial coup.
There is also no new constitution, so whoever wins this weekend’s run-off presidential election will have undefined — and potentially unchecked — powers.
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