Egypt’s high court rules Ahmed Shafiq can stay in presidential race

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s highest court ruled on Thursday that the last prime minister to serve under Hosni Mubarak can stay in the presidential race and that a third of lawmakers in parliament were illegally elected, forcing a re-vote in a potential blow to Islamists who dominate the legislature.

In one of twin decisions, Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court allowed former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq to contest Saturday and Sunday’s presidential runoff against the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate, Mohammed Morsi. The court ruled that a law passed by parliament last month banning senior former regime figures from running for office was unconstitutional.

Hundreds of police and troops backed by armored vehicles set up a security ring around the court ahead of the rulings and scuffles broke out immediately after the rulings were issued between anti-Shafiq protesters and the security forces.

Earlier, in the court, Shafiq’s lawyer Shawki el-Sayed denounced the so-called “Political Exclusion Law” that banned ex-regime leaders, saying it “smacks of a desire to exact revenge, which undermines the sanctity of the law. It encroaches on freedoms.”

Islamist lawmaker Essam Sultan defended the so-called “political exclusion law,” saying, “The revolution is in a state of self-defense. Parliament has a right to tailor legislation for one person.”

Shafiq and Morsi finished as the top two vote-getters in last month’s first round of the election. The two-man race has polarized the nation. The anti-Shafiq camp views him as an extension of Mubarak’s authoritarian regime. The anti-Morsi camp fears he and the Brotherhood will inject more religion into governmt and curtail freedoms if he wins.