Administrative Justice Court blocks Egyptian elections

Egypt’s First Court of Administrative Justice of the State Council, headed by Judge Abdul Majid Al-Mokannan, has blocked President Morsi’s plans to hold elections for the new House of Representatives next month. The court claimed that such a parliament would be “invalid” because the laws governing elections and political rights were not presented to the Supreme Constitutional Court before the presidential decree was issued by the president.

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Presidential Decree number 143 dated February 21, 2013 invited registered voters to begin the process to elect members of the House of Representatives over four stages from Saturday, April 27 to June 27. Lawyers claim that the failure to follow procedure as set out in Article 177 of the existing Egyptian Constitution renders the process invalid and they have asked the higher court to block it.

The request revolves around the fact that the president’s decision was made before the law governing the practice of political rights was itself actually published. According to the lawyers submitting the objection, this was a specific violation of the text of Article 177 of the 2012 Constitution.