CAIRO, Egypt. - As the people of Egypt get ready to vote in probably the most important election in three decades, demonstrators took to streets Friday to protest yesterday's Supreme Court decision to dissolve the Islamist dominated parliament.
In an article with the New York Times, the Egyptian revolutionaries responsible for igniting the uprising said they were naïve and foolish to think that by ousting the head of state, Hosni Mubarak, they would make way for a new democratic governance.
The Court's ruling yesterday only demonstrated to many Egyptians that the old autocratic regime lives on. According to the court's ruling the Islamist dominated- parliament elected six months ago was deemed illegitimate. It ruled that a third of the legislature elected through the 'first-past-the -post' format was unconstitutional, and hence must be dissolved. Farouk Soltan, head of the apex court, told Reuters, ""The ruling regarding parliament includes the dissolution of the lower house of parliament in its entirety because the law upon which the elections were held is contrary to rules of the constitution."
The Muslim Brotherhood told BBC News that the country's "fragile democratic gains are under threat....Egypt can see dangerous says ahead if power is returned to those linked to the previous regime," as reported by the news channel.
In a separate decision the court also ruled that former Prime Minister to the Mubarak regime, Ahmed Shafiq, will be permitted to run for president in the upcoming rounds of election.
According to BBC News, protestors outside the court were not pleased with this decision, because they felt Shafiq was a "remnant of the old guard."
The court also ruled the Political Exclusion Law illegitimate. The purview of the law bans any senior official from the Muabrak administration from being in office.
The runoff elections are expected to take place later this weekend. With the end of the 60-year-Mubarak regime, Egypt is heading for a crucial transition, with all eyes from the international community anxiously waiting to see what will happen.
Sharif and the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Mursi are the forerunners in tomorrow's election.
