Shafiq hails ‘historic’ court ruling on isolation law, says aiming at ‘civil state’

Egyptian presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq welcomed court rulings that void a parliamentary vote and allow him to contest the country’s leadership, saying an “era of political score settling” was over.

The country’s highest court overruled a law passed by the Islamist-dominated parliament that would have barred top Hosni Mubarak-era figures from politics. It also said some rules for an earlier parliamentary election violated the constitution.

“The message of this historic verdict is that the era of political score settling has ended,” Shafiq told cheering supporters in Cairo. “The constitutional court has confirmed my right to participate in the election and reinforced the legitimacy of this election.”

Shafiq vowed to do his best for reaching a “civil state for all the Egyptians,” to be based on development and protection of borders. He vowed to retain stability to the country, to fight thugs and to face armed gangs.

Shafiq underlined that the era of “tailoring laws” was over and added that “the Egyptian community rejects extremism and prefers to be moderate” in all aspects of life.

Shafiq called on all Egyptian voters to “stick to their right in choosing the country that they want,” and underlined his complete confidence in the capability of the army and the police to secure the forthcoming election run-off, scheduled on June 16 and 17.

Shafiq also vowed to preserve freedom of expression and the right of protests.


(Additional writing and translation by Abeer Tayel)