Egypt President Morsi orders dissolved parliament to resume work

Egypt’s newly elected President Mohamed Morsi has ordered the country’s dissolved parliament to resume its legislative work.

According to Egypt’s official Middle East News Agency (MENA), Morsi’s decree came on Sunday, rejecting the Egyptian Supreme Constitutional Court’s ruling that said the country’s parliamentary elections about 7 months ago was unconstitutional.

The Egyptian president also called for holding new parliamentary elections within 60 days of the ratification of the new constitution for the north African state.

On June 14, Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court ordered the dissolution of the parliament, ruling that one third of the parliamentary seats were “illegitimate.”

This is while on June 30, in a speech during his inauguration ceremony at Cairo University Morsi said the Egyptians would choose a parliament in free and fair elections, despite being ruled unconstitutional.

Protests have been going on since the junta dissolved the country’s parliament dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Egypt’s junta also took control of the state budget and gave itself veto power on a new constitution, making the new president almost powerless through a recent constitutional declaration.

The Muslim Brotherhood candidate, Morsi, was announced president on June 24 after a runoff with Ahmed Shafiq, who served as ex-dictator Mubarak’s last prime minister.

Morsi picked up 13.2 million votes out of just over 26 million, giving him 51.7 percent of the vote. His competitor, Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister under Hosni Mubarak, received 12.3 million, handing him 48.3 percent of the vote.