Egyptian court delays elections appeal
2013-03-17 18:15
Cairo - An Egyptian court on Sunday postponed hearing a
state appeal against a ruling it made this month which scuppered parliamentary
elections and deepened political uncertainty during an economic crisis.
The Administrative Court said it had adjourned the appeal
hearing until 24 March to allow more time to study the legal arguments in a
case which has thrown the final stage of Egypt's transition to democracy up in
the air.
With the country in turmoil since the 2011 overthrow of
Hosni Mubarak, Egypt has been without a lower house of parliament since the
middle of last year when a court forced its dissolution by striking down the
law used to elect it.
Last month President Mohamed Mursi called elections to run
from 22 April until late June under a revised electoral law.
Most leading opposition parties had announced they would
boycott the polls when the Administrative Court cancelled Mursi's decree on
technical grounds.
Mursi promised to respect the court's decision, but the
state lawsuits authority lodged the appeal which will now be heard next week.
Such uncertainty over Egypt's political future along with
frequent eruptions of street violence have shaken economic confidence, leading
to a sharp fall in the Egyptian pound and dive in foreign currency reserves.
A senior official of the International Monetary Fund was in
Cairo on Sunday to discuss a stalled government request for a $4.8bn loan
lifeline.
The Administrative Court ruled earlier this month that the
upper house of parliament should have returned the amended election law to the
Constitutional Court for approval, but instead it forwarded the law directly to
Mursi.
