CAIRO: Egyptian judges have postponed the controversial parliamentary elections, whose legitimacy was already threatened by an opposition boycott. The move threatens to exacerbate frustrations in a deeply polarised country where several cities are once again experiencing significant civil unrest.

Egypt has been without an elected lower house for almost a year after the judiciary ruled that the previous parliamentary elections had been unconstitutional. On Wednesday, several rounds of elections scheduled for April, May and June were delayed once more, as judges ruled that the supreme constitutional court (SCC) should have the final say on the legality of contentious new electoral legislation, drawn up by the Shura, the country’s Islamist-dominated upper house.

The National Salvation Front (NSF), a coalition of non-Islamist opposition parties, had already announced plans to boycott the election because of the legislation. Among several other grievances, they argued that the draft law, which sets out the terms of any parliamentary election, would allow officials sympathetic to President Mohamed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood to influence results. They say it allocates a disproportionately high number of MPs to areas sympathetic to the Brotherhood, and also point out its shoddy language. In the draft bill, the House of Representatives is referred to by its former name, the People’s Assembly.

But the decision to refer the legislation to the SCC creates further uncertainty, because it remains unclear how the Muslim Brotherhood will react; what, if anything, the court will change in the new electoral legislation; and how long this new delay will take.

Zaid al-Ali, an expert on the Egyptian constitution, and a senior adviser on constitutional building for the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) said, “The danger is that it may cause a ping-pong match, with the law going back and forth between the Shura and the SCC.

“At the minimum that will take two months. At a maximum, it’s hard to say. It will take as long as it takes for the Shura council to take the court’s decision seriously.”

A spokesman for the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) — the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, which dominates the Shura — said that the FJP would not challenge the court’s decision. “We respect it,” said the FJP’s Nader Omran. “We will not appeal.”

Yasser el-Shimy, Egypt analyst for the International Crisis Group, said, “It would be shrewd for (the FJP) to accept the ruling (because) it would allow them to show a little bit magnanimity towards the judiciary... and allow them to beef up their claim that they will hold free and fair elections.”

Yet the Brotherhood’s intentions remain unclear. In a confusing development, an adviser to the president simultaneously told reporters that there would in fact be an appeal against the ruling.

Any changes are also unlikely to completely satisfy the NSF, who say their participation in any subsequent election would also depend on the creation of a new and neutral interim government, and the redrafting of parts of Egypt’s contested new constitution. “The court will deal with one aspect of our demands,” said an NSF spokesman, Khaled Dawoud. “But we won’t give up on the others.”

Any development is also unlikely to cool tensions in several Egyptian cities, where serious fighting broke out once again in several cities this week. Protesters raging against Morsi and police brutality have clashed with security forces and supporters of the Brotherhood in cities including Port Said, Mahalla, Mansoura and Cairo.

In Port Said, one activist likened the situation to a civil war, while on Tuesday the presidency reportedly considered giving the army complete control of the city. Six people have died and 150 have been wounded in the isolated Mediterranean port since Saturday, building on weeks of strikes, fatal clashes and civil disobedience that first started in late January following the sentencing to death of 21 local football fans. The causes of the unrest are complex, and are now as much to do with fury at Morsi as the death sentences in imposed in January.

Clashes on Wednesday returned to Cairo, where there was fighting near Tahrir Square — where teargas was fired at the funeral procession of a murdered protester — and the former interior minister’s flat was attacked by hardcore football fans.

“I don’t think the court’s decision will have a direct impact on the street politics,” added el-Shimy. “Most of the hardliners in the streets don’t pay much attention to electoral politics.”

By arrangement with the Guardian