Muslim Brotherhood presidential candidate Mohamed Mursi has said he would respect Thursday's controversial High Constitutional Court rulings. "I respect the court's decision, in that I respect state institutions and the principle of the separation of powers," Mursi said in televised comments on Thursday evening. He went on, however, to stress his "dissatisfaction" with the court's ruling against the Political Disenfranchisement Law. On Thursday afternoon, Egypt's High Constitutional Court declared Egypt's Political Disenfranchisement Law – which had threatened presidential finalist and Mubarak-era PM Ahmed Shafiq with disqualification from the presidential race – to be unconstitutional. The contentious ruling will allow Shafiq to contest the presidency in a runoff vote against Mursi slated for Saturday and Sunday. A second ruling, meanwhile, found Egypt's Parliamentary Elections Law – which regulated last year's legislative polls – to be similarly unconstitutional. The latter verdict means that both the People's Assembly and the consultative Shura Council (the lower and upper houses of Egypt's parliament) will likely be dissolved and fresh elections held. In his televised comments, Mursi urged the Egyptian public "not to heed baseless rumours," going on to vow that, if he is elected president, "figures from the ousted criminal regime will not be allowed to return to political life."
