Egypt parliament calls new session

9 Jul 2012, 10:39 pm   -   Source: AAP
Morsi is Egypt's first democratically elected president. (AAP)

Morsi is Egypt's first democratically elected president. (AAP)

Egypt's parliament speaker has invited the lower house to convene on Tuesday.

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Egypt's parliament speaker has invited the lower house to convene on Tuesday following a decision by the president to reinstate the assembly disbanded by the military.

Saad al-Katatni "has called on parliament to convene at 2pm (2200 AEST) on Tuesday," the official MENA news agency reported.

The call by Katatni, who belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood, comes after President Mohamed Morsi ordered the return of the Islamist-led parliament which was dissolved by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) based on a court ruling.

The move has put Morsi, who stepped down from the Brotherhood when he was sworn in last month, on a collision course with the SCAF that ruled the country after Hosni Mubarak was ousted by a popular uprising last year.

Morsi's decree also stipulates the organisation of new parliamentary elections two months after the approval by referendum of the country's new constitution and the adoption of a new law regulating parliament.

The presidential decision was likely to heighten tensions with the military, although both Morsi and Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi who heads SCAF appeared together at a military cadet graduation ceremony on Monday.

The SCAF had convened an urgent meeting "to discuss the presidential measures" state television said.

The High Judicial Council and the Constitutional Court were also meeting on Monday to discuss the constitutionality of Morsi's decision.

The move, described by some papers as a "political earthquake," has also put Morsi on a collision course with the country's judiciary and some secular parties.

"In any decent and democratic country, a president cannot disrespect the judiciary," said Rifaat al-Said, the head of the leftist Al-Tagammu party.

"Whether Morsi likes it or not, he must respect the judiciary's decisions," he told state television.

Said said a march to parliament would be organised later on Monday, and stressed that "several parties will boycott parliament's sessions."

The military dissolved parliament last month after Egypt's top court made its controversial ruling, a day before the second round of the presidential poll that saw the Islamist Morsi become Egypt's first democratically elected head of state.

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