Mass Protest Fears In Cairo Amid Vote Furore

Mass protests are expected in Cairo later amid growing chaos in Egypt's transition to democracy on the eve of the country's crucial Presidential run-off vote.

Revolutionary groups have called for a march to Tahrir Square to express their outage over a court ruling ordering the dissolution of the country's Islamist-dominated parliament.

The decision by the Supreme Constitutional Court has prompted accusations that the military is trying to stage a "soft coup".

The ruling means the country is facing a re-run of the parliamentary elections which were completed six months ago and were meant to have been the first step towards civilian rule.

The Muslim Brotherhood could lose control of the body in a repeat of the vote.

Adding to the unrest, the court decided that Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister to serve under ousted president Hosni Mubarak can remain in the presidential race.

The vote - scheduled to take place on Saturday and Sunday - pits Mr Shafiq against the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi in a divisive contest.

"If Shafiq wins there is going to be a war," Iman Ahmed said, alongside a cluster of other demonstrators who are staging a hunger strike in protest against his candidacy.

But she admitted that she did not want to vote for the Muslim Brotherhood either.

"We need a different choice of candidates," she said.

Across Cairo people are debating the choice, many of them trying to determine which of the two potential presidents would be easier to remove from power.

"If Shafiq wins he will bring back the regime and stay forever," Ahmed Ennarah said, arguing with his friend over whether to vote for Mohamed Morsi instead.

"You should just boycott," Ahmed Rashad told him.

"The Muslim Brotherhood could be just as bad, and they are also only interested in getting power for their own ends," he said.

The Islamist movement, long an opponent of Hosni Mubarak, has tried to position itself as the "party of the revolution" and has a hard core of loyal supporters.

Many young, secular revolutionaries did not join the uprising to vote in an Islamist president who will impose sharia law.

Supporters of Ahmed Shafiq are harder to find in the streets, where declaring allegiance to him is considered a betrayal of the revolution.

But in the first round of the election he gained significant support from voters who have been unsettled by the unrest and lawlessness since the revolution.

Some believe he will deliver security and stability to the country.

"I'm going to vote for him," one businessman said, refusing to give his name for fear of "trouble".

"I think it's wrong that everyone is not allowed to say that we support him. We have a better chance of voting him out after four years than getting rid of the Muslim Brotherhood."