Morsi challenges generals" power - FT.com Mohamed Morsi at an election rally Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's newly elected president, on Sunday challenged the authority of the country's powerful generals when he ordered the dissolved parliament to reconvene, defying a military order. The move places the new president, who was inaugurated last week, on a collision course with the powerful Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the body which has steered the country since last year's uprising against Hosni Mubarak the former president. SCAF, which groups the country's top generals, called an emergency meeting on Sunday evening in response to Mr Morsi's decree. Late last night, state television reported that Scaf would not comment on Mr Morsi's move. The parliament, dominated by Islamists from the Freedom and Justice party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, and by ultraconservative Salafis, was Egypt's first democratically elected assembly in more than 60 years. The Supreme Consitutional Court, the highest legal authority in the country, ruled last month that the electoral system was unfair and discriminated against independent candidates with no party affiliation. The military ordered the assembly disbanded and troops surrounded the building barring lawmakers from entering. SCAF also took over parliament's legislative powers, including the right to pass the budget. The dissolution of the assembly was seen as part of a power struggle between the once-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group, the rising force in the country, and the military who have monopolised politics since 1952. The president also on Sunday ordered that new parliamentary elections should be held 60 days after the country has approved by referendum a new constitution, which is currently being drafted by an Islamist-dominated panel chosen by the dissolved assembly. "Morsi wants to assert his office and even assert it aggressively," said Shadi Hamid, director of research at Brookings Doha. He is not acting as if he is a weak president. I think for SCAF the problem will not be so much what has been done, that parliament will be reinstated for six months until elections have been held, but that it was done unilaterally. This also deprives SCAF of legislative power. It means the Brotherhood will have both legislative and executive control, so this is very important for the Brotherhood. The panel itself faces a legal challenge and a court is due to rule on its legitimacy in September. The upper chamber of parliament, also Islamist-controlled, is the target of another legal challenge. Mr Morsi's decision to order elections suggests an attempt to avoid accusations that he does not respect court rulings. It also signals his determination to carve out for himself some independent space for action beyond the limits set by the generals. SCAF had moved to curtail Mr Morsi's powers, just hours after polls in the presidential election closed last month. "SCAF accepted his legitimacy and we saw that at his inauguation last week," said Mr Hamid. They can't now turn round and say actually we changed our mind. Hillary Clinton is coming to Cairo in a few days. They can hardly depose him before she arrives. The generals issued new constitutional rules which make the army immune to civilian oversights and in control of its budget and other affairs. They also gave themselves veto power over the new constitution and the right to appoint the members of a body to draft the charter. Mr Morsi's decrees signal a dramatic raising of the stakes in the battle between the military and the Islamists. The president, who has just received an invitation to visit Washington, appears to have placed the military in an awkward corner. The general's move against parliament was seen as a soft coup, but any action they take against Mr Morsi, whose election victory was feted at home and abroad, could bring down on them both domestic and international opprobrium.