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[L0st Id3ntity]

In the last few hours: Parliament is dissolved, therefore the new constitution will be drafted under military supervision + the new president will pledge for the army. A new decree grants arrest powers to military (i.e new emergency law).

CAIRO -- Egypt's highest court on Thursday ordered the country's Islamist-dominated parliament dissolved, saying its election about six months ago was unconstitutional.

The Supreme Constitutional Court ruled Thursday that a third of the legislature was elected illegally. As a result, it says in its explanation of the ruling, "the makeup of the entire chamber is illegal and, consequently, it does not legally stand."

The explanation was carried by Egypt's official news agency and confirmed to The Associated Press by one of the court's judges, Maher Sami Youssef. The ruling means that new elections for the entire parliament will have to be held.

The law governing the parliamentary elections, held over a three-month period starting in November, was ruled unconstitutional by a lower court because it breached the principle of equality when it allowed party members to contest a third of seats set aside for independents. The remaining two thirds were contested by party slates.

In a separate ruling, the court said Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, could stay in the presidential race, rejecting a law passed by parliament last month that barred prominent figures from the old regime from running for office.

Shafiq will go head-to-head on Saturday and Sunday in a runoff against Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, the country's strongest political group.

The ruling said the legislation was not based on "objective grounds" and "constitutes a violation of the principle of equality," leading to discrimination on "illogical grounds."

The Brotherhood stands to lose the most by the rulings since it controls just under half of all seats in the legislature and is likely not to do as well in the next election. Its popularity has declined since the legislative election over its failure to translate its parliamentary domination into real political power and its perception as a power hungry group more preoccupied with its own interests than national ones.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/14/egypts-parliament-dissolv_n_1596609.html

Egypt's justice ministry has issued a decree allowing military police and intelligence officers to arrest civilians suspected of crimes, restoring some of the powers of the decades-old emergency law which expired just two weeks ago.

The controversial order was drafted earlier this month, but was not announced until Wednesday.

The decree applies to a range of offences, including those deemed "harmful to the government," destruction of property, "obstructing traffic," and "resisting orders".

Several of those provisions would allow the military to detain peaceful protesters. Rallies in Tahrir Square routinely disrupt traffic, for example.

It will remain in effect at least until a new constitution is drafted, according to the ministry.

Members of parliament voted on Tuesday to appoint a constitutional assembly, but the process of drafting the document could take months.

Adel al-Mursi, the head of Egypt's military justice, was quoted by AFP news agency as saying that "the decision fills a legal vacuum", while Sayyed Hashim, a former military prosecutor, called it a temporary measure.

"The police force has not yet recovered completely, and security is not back," Hashim was quoted by Associated Press news agency as saying in a television interview.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/06/201261316733866879.html


So basically a soft military coup.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

Everybody knows that military coups and the dissolution of democracy in a state is completely hilarious OP, you didn't need to remind us in the thread title.

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

The decree applies to a range of offences, including those deemed "harmful to the government," destruction of property, "obstructing traffic," and "resisting orders".

Thank god for vague rules! Now the Egyptian MP can interpret the decree however they please!

 

[Steelrain]

What the fuck is funny about this situation OP?

 

[Anton Sugar]

What the fuck is funny about this situation OP?

Seems like its more of a incredulous ROFL than a mocking ROFL. I have gotten my ROFL's mixed up before, though.

 

[Jhriad]

ROFL? Really?

 

[L0st Id3ntity]

Great in-depth article by Mark Lynch:

That's It For Egypt's So-Called Transition

The SCAF, in other words, may look to have won this seemingly decisive round. But it's not the endgame. It's only the beginning of a new phase of a horribly mismanaged "transition" that is coming to its well-earned end. What's next? A replay of Algeria in 1991? A return to Jan. 25, 2011? Back to 1954? A return to the petulant slow fail of latter-days Mubarak? An alien invasion using nano-weapons and transgalactic wormholes in the Pyramids? Nobody really seems to know... but I'm pretty sure we're not going to see a return to stable CloneNDP-SCAF rule. Of course, this being Egypt, maybe tomorrow the Court will just overrule itself and we can all go back to normal...

http://lynch.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/06/14/egypts_so_called_transition_canceled

Seems like its more of a incredulous ROFL than a mocking ROFL. I have gotten my ROFL's mixed up before, though.

No we need to go deeper, let's discuss my rofl some more.

 

[SoulPlaya]

Maybe they can bring some stability to the country.

 

[Baron Doggystyle von Woof]

This reminds of how precious our democracy is.