CAIRO, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's Administrative Court decided Wednesday to suspend the decree of President Mohamed Morsi which suggests hold parliamentary elections on April 22, state-run Al- Ahram Online reported.
The court also referred 14 claims against the constitutionality of the newly-drafted election law to the Supreme Constitutional Court.
On Feb. 18, the Constitutional Court rejected the controversial parliamentary election law submitted by the Shura Council (upper house of the parliament), the country's temporary legislative authority. The court sent the proposed law back to the Shura Council for amendment due to the unconstitutionality of some articles concerning the quota of workers and fair representation of electoral districts.
Three days later, the Shura council endorsed the amendment referred by the Constitutional Court, and the amendment was approved by Morsi.
But the court's decision on Wednesday asserted the Shurah Council didn't abide completely by the amendments required by the supreme constitutional court, and didn't refer the new amendments to the court before approved by the president.
Some local media reported the presidency would appeal the decision. However, the presidency on Wednesday evening stressed its respect for the court's decisions.
"The presidency will not appeal the court ruling," state-run Al- Ahram Online newspaper quoted Morsi's legal adviser Mohamed Fouad as saying, stressing respect for "the value of the rule of law and the constitution."
"Appeals were tools of the former president Hosni Mubarak's regime," added Fouaad.
Egyptian opposition leader Amr Moussa, also the head of the Conference Party, a member of the main opposition bloc the National Salvation Front (NSF), welcomed Wednesday the court's decision. "I welcome this decision and I hope that it will be carried out, because it creates a new chance for a new political situation," Moussa told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.
"The decision suspends the upcoming parliamentary elections that we have repeatedly called for delay," he added.
Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghuzlan said, "We have nothing to do but to respect the court's decision until appealing on it or taking legal procedures in this regard."
From his side, Abdel Moniem Abdel Maqsoud, lawyer for MB, said "the court's ruling has crashed with rooted judicial constants," predicting appeal on the case will suspend the court's decision.
Statements of the Salafist Al-Nour Party said the party respects and supports the court decision.
Mohamed Mohie Eddin, leading member of liberal Ghad al-Thawra Party, also a Shura Council member, said the court's decision will give an opportunity for the president to realize the importance of "listening to the national forces as the right path for any step to be taken in the future."
According to Egypt's election commission, the registration for the parliamentary elections will start on March 9 and last through March 16, while elections will be held in four stages from April 22 to June 24, but the opposition bloc National Salvation Front has renewed its boycott for the polls, and announced Tuesday to launch a campaign to urge Egyptians to boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Egypt's former parliament was dissolved last June over a decision by the Supreme Constitutional Court that ruled the unconstitutionality of some articles of it election law.
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