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Cairo:
Members of the Muslim Brotherhood has called a protest
across Egypt on Tuesday to demonstrate against sweeping new powers taken by
the ruling military council. Over the weekend, the generals issued
two decrees dissolving the Islamist-dominated parliament and
claiming all legislative power for themselves.
MPs are also
expected to try to enter the parliament building today.
Meanwhile, with counting in the presidential election run-off
complete, both candidates are claiming victory.
Mohammed Mursi,
the head of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP),
said on Monday that he had won 52% of the vote. Mursi promised to
work “hand-in-hand with all Egyptians for a better future,
freedom, democracy, development and peace”.
But former Prime
Minister Ahmed Shafiq’s campaign team said their figures showed
that he was ahead and that the Brotherhood had “terrorized”
voters.
Independent observers and state media believe Mursi has
won by a margin of about three to four percentage points, or about
a million votes.
The official result is scheduled to be announced
on Thursday.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf) appears to be
working on the assumption that Mursi will win, reports the BBC’s
Jon Leyne inCairo.
It has made a series of decrees and appointments
designed to reduce or constrain the power of the president, and
entrench the power of the military. Despite opposition talk of a
“military coup”, it may end up being a messy compromise that
everyone can live with.
Voting over the weekend to choose a successor to Hosni Mubarak,
who was forced to step down by last year’s uprising, was
overshadowed by two Scaf decrees. The first ordered the immediate
dissolution of parliament following Thursday’s Supreme
Constitutional Court ruling that the law governing the recent
elections for the lower house was unconstitutional because party
members had been allowed to contest seats in the lower house
reserved for independents.
Troops were deployed outside the parliament building before the
decree was issued on Saturday to prevent MPs gaining access. The FJP and the ultraconservative Salafist Nour party dominate both
chambers.
The second decree, which was published after the polls
closed on Sunday, amended the March 2011 constitutional
declaration and gave the generals complete control over
legislation and military affairs until fresh parliamentary
elections are held. The Scaf will also play a significant role in
running the 100-member assembly that will draft the country’s new
constitution.
The new president – who will take office without the oversight of
a parliament and without a permanent constitution to define his
powers or duties – will be able to form and dismiss a government,
ratify and reject laws, and declare war, but only with Scaf’s
approval.
Muslim Brotherhood members are set to protest against the decrees
on Tuesday by taking part in a “million-man march” – the name they
give for almost any demonstration in Egypt.
At the same time, MPs may attempt to
enter parliament to protest against its dissolution. Soldiers have
been given orders not to let them in.
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