CAIRO – Egypt's High Constitutional Court (HCC) Monday rejected five Articles of a draft election law and sent the text back to the country's temporary legislature for redrafting in a move that may delay a parliamentary poll due in April. “The court has returned the draft parliamentary electoral law to the Shoura Council after making five observations on five Articles which it found unconstitutional,” a court statement said. The law, drafted by the Shoura Council — the upper house of parliament which is currently endowed with legislative powers following the dissolution of the People's Assembly in June 2012 — was presented to the HCC for approval before which it must be ratified. But Monday, presidential sources announced that the presidential elections process is set to open later this week or early next week. The People's Assembly (parliamentary lower house) was dissolved in 2012 by an HCC court order that rendered the law that elected that chamber unconstitutional. The Shoura Council has assumed full legislative powers on a temporary basis until the new House of Representatives (formerly called the People's Assembly) is elected. The decision added to the unrest gripping Egypt as thousands massed in the Suez Canal city of Port Said for a second day of protests. The court has clashed repeatedly with President Mohamed Morsi. Today's ruling raises new questions about the timing of a parliamentary vote just as Egypt grapples with a moribund economy and currency reserves that are now more than 60 percent below their levels when the 2011 revolution ousted Mubarak. “It's one more example of this government's lack of governing skills,” Michael Hanna, a Middle East analyst with the Century Foundation, a New York-based research institute, was quoted as saying. The decision may have been “avoided if there was more willingness to be open to the judiciary” on the part of Morsi. The president has resisted efforts by opposition secular and youth activists to delay the legislative vote. – Agencies
