Two days before the second round of presidential elections, Egypt's highest court on Thursday dissolved the Islamist-dominated parliament and ruled that the army-backed candidate could stay in the race, in what was widely seen as a double blow for the Muslim Brotherhood.
The decision was denounced as a coup by opposition leaders of all kinds and many within the Brotherhood, who fear that they will lose much of the political ground they have gained since Hosni Mubarak was ousted 16 months ago.
The decision by the supreme constitutional court – whose judges were appointed by Mubarak – brought into sharp focus the power struggle between the Muslim Brotherhood and the supreme council of the armed forces (Scaf), the military council that took up the reins of power after Mubarak's fall.
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Dr Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, a centrist former presidential candidate, echoed that sentiment. "Keeping the military candidate [in the race] and overturning the elected parliament after granting the military police the right to arrest is a complete coup and whoever thinks that millions of youth will let it pass is deluding themselves," he said in a statement on his Facebook page.
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On Wednesday a decree by the justice ministry gave members of the military police and intelligence services the right to arrest and detain civilians, an order perilously close to the conditions of emergency law which Egypt has just shed.
