CAIRO, Egypt - Two days before the country is set to elect a new president, Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court has ruled that the Islamist-dominated parliament must be dissolved and that former regime figures must be allowed to hold political office, effectively approving the candidacy of presidential hopeful and former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq.

Thursday's rulings, accompanied by an announcement that Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) would now oversee the writing of a new constitution, immediately raised fears of a thinly veiled military takeover.

Mohammed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood's presidential candidate, said in a press conference late in the evening that foul play in the election runoff which pits him against Shafiq would be met by "a huge revolution."