(AFP Photo)
President Mohamed Morsi will call for early presidential elections if he feels that his presidency has failed, Minister of Justice Ahmed Mekki said Saturday night.
In an interview on Al-Hayat channel Mekki added however that “calling for early presidential elections now is calling for failure and chaos”.
Instead, Mekki argued, if early presidential elections are to be held they should be scheduled after all state institutions are rebuilt.
Security would not be restored unless power is concentrated within one entity, even if that entity ruled unfairly, because the situation in Egypt right now is too fluid, he continued.
“President Morsi has inherited a failing state with institutions in a state of decline. The French Revolution took a very long time to reach its goals,” added Mekki.
The justice minister also condemned the surrounding of the Egyptian Media Production City, Supreme Constitutional Court, and Ministry of Interior by various groups of protesters, as well as insulting Morsi.
“Can anyone make fun of the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar or Pope Tawadros II?” he asked.
The minister of justice also said he is unhappy with former president Hosni Mubarak being on trial for the killing of protesters during the January 2011 uprising that ousted him.
“I believe the protesters were killed by accident and that [Mubarak] did not order it,” he said, adding that Mubarak’s voluntary relinquishment of power is something that should be praised.
“We could put him on trial for the torturing of prisoners and forging of elections that went on during his reign, though,” Mekki said.
