Judge Tarek al-Bishry said that the People's Assembly is not dissolved, but cannot hold sessions, according to an article published on satellite channel Al Arabiya's website Wednesday morning.
He claimed the president does not need to issue a decree to reinstate the disbanded lower house of Parliament because the verdict of the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that only a third of its members were elected unconstitutionally.
The court had ruled in May that an elections law was unconstitutional, prompting the SCAF to dissolve the People's Assembly. After his election, President Mohamed Morsy ordered it reconvened but eventually capitulated to the court's insistence that the ruling be respected.
Bishry told Al Arabiya that Morsy has the right to call for the re-election of one third of the seats, which, with the court's validation, would enable the People's Assembly to convene without electing an entirely new body.
Bishry supervised the committee that drafted the Constitutional Declaration issued by the SCAF in March 2011 and which has helped govern the country until a new constitution can be drafted.
If the president issues a decree [to hold elections], he will not be transgressing the court's rulings, but rather implementing them," Bishry said.
Regarding Morsy's cancelation of the supplement to Constitutional Declaration, which was passed by the SCAF on 17 June and limited the president's powers, Bishry said that the supplement "was not even legitimate to begin with."
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
