(AFP/file Photo)
The chamber of political parties’ affairs at the High Administrative Court ruled its lack of jurisdiction in the lawsuit filed to dissolve the Salafist Al-Nour Party.
The court ruling ordered for the case to be returned to the Administrative Court for consideration and adjudication.
The lawsuit demanded the dissolution of Al-Nour Party on the basis of violating the provisions of Article 74 of the Egyptian Constitution, as the party is established on religious grounds.
Article 74 states: “All citizens have the right to form political parties by notification as regulated by law. No political activity may be practiced and no political parties may be formed on the basis of religion or discrimination based on sex, or origin, or on sectarian basis or geographic location.”
The article however proceeds that a court ruling is required for political parties to be dissolved.
Al-Nour Party Spokesperson Nader Bakar told Daily News Egypt that the party’s legal committee reiterated that its legal position is “intact”. He added that lawyers who filed the lawsuit “lack understanding of the provisions of the constitution”.
Bakar noted that the party is established on a religious basis, “just as the constitution” is. However, it is not based on religious or racial discrimination, and “so it doesn’t violate the law”.
The party is to participate in the coming parliamentary elections, it’s already “settled”, added Bakar.
This is not the first lawsuit filed against the party. Similar lawsuits were ruled upon by the Cairo Court for Urgent Matters and the Alexandria Court for Urgent Matters, both of which ruled their lack of jurisdiction over the case.
Bakar said that “this is another victory for Al-Nour Party”.
The parliamentary elections were set to take place in March. However, the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) deemed the Electoral Districts Law “unconstitutional” in March, causing the postponement of the elections.
Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb announced earlier in April that the elections are to commence before Ramadan in mid-June.
