Administrative court to decide if former NDP leaders can run for parliamentary elections

The Administrative Court set 31 August to issue a ruling in a lawsuit to lift the ban on former National Democratic Party leaders running for parliamentary elections. Lawyer and former NDP member Nabil Luqa Babawy filed a lawsuit to challenge the ruling that banned NDP leaders from exercising politics. The Cairo Court for Urgent Matters had banned leaders of the dissolved National Democratic Party and members of the party's policy committee from running in presidential elections, parliamentary elections and local councils. The ruling stated that the NDP, since it was founded in 1978, has played a role in choosing corrupt governments, creating laws that contradict the constitution and failing to implement judicial decisions. On 16 April 2011, the State Council ordered the seizure of NDP assets by the state. Meanwhile, the Supreme Constitutional Court issued a ruling, during the tenure of toppled President Mohamed Morsy, that said that banning NDP leaders from politics was unconstitutional.