Egypt’s highest court rules upper house of parliament invalid

PanARMENIAN.Net - Egypt’s highest court on Sunday, June 2 ruled as invalid the country’s upper house of parliament and a panel that drafted the country's constitution,RIA Novosti reported.

The Supreme Constitutional Court said that the laws governing the election of the Islamist-dominated Shura Council (the Senate), and also the rules of selecting members of a committee that drafted the constitution were illegal.

The Shura Council will only be dissolved after new parliamentary elections are held, the court said.

Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court ruled last year that the electoral law under which both houses of parliament were elected was invalid, which prompted parliament’s dissolution.

The Shura Council was then given legislative powers by a Constitutional Declaration adopted by President Mohammed Morsi in December last year.