The State Council's Administrative Court referred lawsuits demanding the nullification of the presidential election's first round results to the court commissioners on Tuesday for a legal opinion.
The commissioners’ role is consultative and their opinions are not binding.
Former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabbahi filed a lawsuit demanding that the first round results and the runoff between former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq and Freedom and Justice Party head Mohamed Morsy be canceled on the grounds that the first round lacked “full judicial supervision and the electoral process was rife with mistakes and fraud.”
The court also referred a lawsuit filed by a lawyer stating that Morsy should be eliminated from the race because his sons are Americans. According to this suit, the runoff would then be held between Shafiq and third place contestant Sabbahi.
Another lawsuit demanded that Shafiq be disqualified from the runoff because the Supreme Constitutional Court is still considering the constitutionality of the Political Isolation Law, which, if applied, would strip Shafiq of his political rights, including the right to hold high office. The suit states that if Shafiq won the case then the court declared the law constitutional and it was applied, Shafiq’s presidency would be illegal.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
