Egypt's Fundamental Crisis of Legitimacy

Marina Ottaway June 6, 2013

Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) has taken another step toward annulling the outcome of the elections that followed the 2011 uprising. Earlier this week, it declared that the Shura Council was elected unconstitutionally and that the Constituent Assembly that drafted the new constitution was also an unconstitutional body. The crisis of legitimacy created by this development means that the country could experience a new outbreak of violence at any time.

The 2012 parliamentary elections gave 70 percent of the seats to the Muslim Brothers’ Freedom and Justice Party and the Salafi An-Nour Party, while the presidency went to the Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi by a narrow margin. The SCC reacted immediately. In June 2012 it declared the election law unconstitutional and dissolved the House of Representatives, the lower and more powerful chamber. It also dissolved as unconstitutional the first constituent assembly elected by the parliament. For reasons that are not clear either politically or juridically, the SCC allowed the second constituent assembly elected by the same parliament and the Shura Council (the upper house) to stagger along until June 2 under constant threat of dissolution. By that time the constituent assembly no longer existed, having completed its job, but the SCC’s decision was not inconsequential….To Read More….   http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/egypts-fundamental-crisis-legitimacy-8561

My Take – It always is interesting to watch a Muslim state have elections.  They complain they don’t have a voice and then turn around and elect groups that want to eliminate their ability to think or act independently.  They whine they don’t have rights and turn around and kill all those who are not Muslims.  They insist on Sharia, but they don’t agree on its application.  They all claim to be Muslims but some Muslims are not Muslims to other Muslims and deserve to be killed as heretics based on …..Sharia…..  Does anyone besides me see a pattern here?  The problem is Islam.  As long as that is their belief system they are doomed to Middle Age thinking, and Middle Age outcomes for their societies, except that  now they now can kill more people with less effort due to 21^st century weapons.  Who said they aren't willing to be progressive?