Egypt's Parliament Verdict

In an Egyptian political earthquake, the country's parliamentary elections from several months ago have been ruled unconstitutional:

"The entire Parliament will be dissolved following the Supreme Constitutional Court ruling that one-third of its MPs elected to single-winner seats were chosen on an unconstitutional basis, Farouk Sultan, court chairman told Al-Masry Al-Youm...

"All previous decisions made by Parliament will remain valid, according to the ruling. Sultan added that the Shura Council, the upper house of Parliament, should not be dissolved as part of the ruling, even though it was elected according to the same law based on which the lower house of Parliament was elected.

"The largely Islamist Parliament's legislative authorities will be transferred to the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces."

Expect a significant response from the Muslim Brotherhood, which has long feared the military would keep them from governing as happened to Islamists in Algeria in 1991 and the West Bank in 2006.  Keep in mind, too, that the ex-regime candidate Ahmed Shafiq will compete against the MB's Muhammad Mursi in a run-off presidential election Sunday.