Leftists denounce Egypt's Military Council, anti election rallies underway

Liberal, leftist and secular forces denounced the ruling military council in Egypt on Friday, dubbing it “the counter-revolution council". The group called on parliament, which has been deemed as void by the Constitutional Court, to return to the ranks of the rebels "to stop the scenario of a military coup" – as it said.                    
The statement pointed to a scenario prepared by the military junta on February 2011, which calls for the “liquidation of the revolution ". This according to the statement manifested on the ground by  the series of failed verdicts -  citing the ruling that sons of President Hosni Mubarak and assistant Habib el-Adli received                               

The group called on the Muslim Brotherhood and Freedom and Justice Party to withdraw their candidate Mohamed Morsi of the run-off presidential election. This, since the group considers the election as “just a farce to legitimize the presence of the military junta” in Egypt.                      

This as people began gathering in Cairo's Tahrir Square for a mass rally just one day before the election to replace ousted leader Hosni Mubarak.                    Demonstrators want to boycott the election after Egypt's supreme court ruled on Thursday to dissolve the country's Islamist-led parliament, plunging a troubled transition to democracy into turmoil.                      

The Supreme Constitutional Court also ruled that Mubarak's last prime minister, Ahmed Shafik, could stay in the presidential race against the Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsy.                  

Islamists who gained most from Mubarak's overthrow decried what they called a "coup" by an army-led establishment still full of Mubarak-era officials.  

They said the street movement that spurred last year's uprising would not let it pass, a sentiment echoed on the streets.              

Protest organizers expect a million demonstrators to turn out for the rally.             

The Muslim Brotherhood said the court rulings indicated Egypt was heading into "very difficult days that might be more dangerous than the last days of Mubarak's rule". For 16 months since Mubarak was toppled after 30 years in office, a transition overseen by generals has been beset by political bickering, protests and often bloodshed.               

But many Egyptians had at least taken some reassurance from the calm conduct of this year's parliamentary election and the prospect of a presidential poll.              
Now even those gains are being plunged into doubt, although the army said the presidential poll would go ahead on time. 

LBCI/AP