BBC NEWS (UK), REUTERS
CAIRO - Egyptian parliamentary speaker Saad al-Katatni told the state news agency on Monday that Parliament would meet on Tuesday even though Army generals ordered it dissolved last month and took over legislative power, according to Reuters. The move could threaten Egypt's political stability and herald an open confrontation between the new Islamist civilian power and the military more than a year after the ousting of the regime of Hosni Mubarak.
Al-Katatni's announcement came after newly-elected Islamist president Mohammed Morsi issued a decree on Sunday ordering Parliament to reconvene, openly defying the military generals who had ordered its dissolution last month because of electoral irregularities for independent seats. On Monday afternoon the Egyptian high court ruled that the Parliament's dissolution was binding and applied to all branches of power, rejecting Morsi's decree.
Al-Katatni and Morsi are both former members of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's dominant political force.
It is unclear how the representatives would meet since MPs were still barred on Monday from entering Parliament by military forces keeping the building sealed, the BBC reports, even though the army withdrew units, enabling some MPs to enter.
Fears of a inevitable clash between Morsi and the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) were slightly assuaged when the president appeared with the head of the military at a relaxed television event on Monday morning, Reuters reports.
Morsi also said on Sunday that new elections would be held as soon as Parliament approved a new constitution. The army had assumed power after Mubarak's downfall in January 2011, but the historic election of Morsi - a civilian - to the presidency last month has pushed Egypt into uncharted territory.
