Court lifts ban on NDP members running in elections

The Cairo Appeals Court for Urgent Matters lifted a ban on former National Democratic Party (NDP) leaders from running in elections, state-owned Al-Ahram reported Monday.

The court annulled a previous ruling by the Cairo Court for Urgent Matters issued in May banning former NDP members from running in presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections.

The court had said that the party played a role in forming corrupt governments, drafting laws that contradicted the constitution and delaying the implementation of court verdicts.

The ruling was then challenged by lawyer and former NDP member Nabil Luqa Babawi, according to Al-Masry Al-Youm.

In 2011, a political isolation law banning NDP members from running for office was drafted by the Islamist Wasat Party. However, its constitutionality was contested by the Supreme Constitutional Court in 2012. 

A similar provision was put forward in the 2012 Constitution, which was drafted by a mostly Islamist assembly. In its transitional provisions, the 2012 Constitution banned leaders of the NDP from running in presidential and legislative elections for a period of 10 years. However, the document was abrogated last July with the ouster of former president and Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi. 

Critics of isolation provisions claim that they strip away people's political rights.