A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

If It's Wednesday, Shafiq is Out of the Race; Wait for Thursday

Former Egyptian Air Force Chief and Prime Minister Ahmad Shafiq was considered a short-list Presidential candidate until Parliament passed a law barring senior officials from the last years of the Mubarak regime, which disqualified him. Then the Electoral Commission decided not to disqualify him, but to refer the law to the Constitutional Court, which agreed to hear the case, and Shafiq was back in the race. Now the Administrative Court has ruled that the Electoral Commission had no right to refer the law to the Constitutional Court. If it wins this jurisdictional contest, he's presumably out again. The Electoral Commission, by the way, is headed by the head of the Constitutional Court.

Though Shafiq is unlikely to win anyway, he's going to be in and out of the race until the courts, or somebody, resolve this turf battle.

But meanwhile,  just wait till tomorrow. An appeal is being considered.

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