CAIRO — Egypt’s constitutional court ruled Thursday that Mubarak ally Ahmed Shafiq can run for president, and declared that one-third of the lower house of parliament was elected unconstitutionally--raising the possibility that parliament will be suspended until a new election can held.
The eagerly anticipated rulings were a setback for Egypt’s revolutionaries and Islamists on the eve of the country’s landmark presidential vote, which begins Saturday. Protesters clashed with security forces outside the courthouse minutes after the decisions were announced.

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By keeping Shafiq in the race, the court appeared to side with Egyptians who see the former air force chief— who served as Mubarak’s last prime minister, before Mubarak was ousted — as best suited to lead a country reeling from a year and a half of chaotic military rule.
The judges on the top court are Mubarak appointees and seen as sympathetic to the old order. That perception could fuel confrontations between anti-Shafiq protesters and security forces, who were recently given vast powers to detain civilians.
“Both decisions empower the Mubarak status-quo, which is no surprise, as the judges of the court were appointed by the latter, and represent a part of the so-called ‘deep-state,’ ” Omar Ashour, an Egypt expert at Exeter University, said in an e-mail.
Shafiq will compete for the presidency against Mohamed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood candidate. Morsi and his allies say Shafiq wants to return Egypt’s government to the repressive tactics Mubarak favored. Shafiq, in turn, says a Morsi victory would transform Egypt into an ultra-conservative Islamic state.
The court’s second ruling on Thursday said that political parties unlawfully fielded candidates for the one-third of seats in the lower house of parliament that were supposed to be set aside for independent candidates.
As a result, those candidates likely will lose their posts, and the legislature will be suspended until a new vote can be held. Maher Sami, a spokesman for the constitutional court, told reporters that the ruling effectively calls for the dissolution of the entire lower house of parliament.
The lower house, known as the “people’s assembly,” is the most powerful part of the parliament. The Muslim Brotherhood, which controls just under half the seats in the lower house, stands to lose the most from the decision.
“This ruling means that the next president will work without institutions, he will face huge criticism and rage, “ said Sobhi Saleh, a leading lawmaker from the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice party.
“There was outrage over the Islamic majority of the parliament” among Egypt’s old guard, Saleh complained. “And there was a plan to destroy it.”
The question of Shafiq’s eligibility to run for office centered on whether Shafiq ought to be subject to a recently passed law that bars senior members of Mubarak’s disbanded National Democratic Party from political life for 10 years.
The court ruled that the law was unconstitutional.
Amr Darrag, another leading member of the Freedom and Justice Party, said his party would respect the judicial decision regarding Shafiq’s fitness to run for office and would continue to strive to beat him at the ballot box.
“Our position was to do our best to legally isolate Ahmed Shafiq from the post of president,” Darrag said. “If we can’t do that then the people will isolate him with the vote.”