Adly Mansour exits courtroom to take over Egypt's reins

Justice Adly Mahmoud Mansour, head of Egypt's constitutional court, was on Thursday sworn in as interim leader of the troubled nation, hours after the powerful army removed Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

On Wednesday night, the army ousted Morsi, who took office a year ago as the country's first democratically elected president after days of mass rallies across the country demanding removal of the Islamist leader belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Mansour, 67, was sworn in at the constitutional court in a ceremony telecast live on state television.

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Speaking at the ceremony, Mansour said that the Egyptian people had given him the authority "to amend and correct" the revolution in 2011 that brought down the former ruler Hosni Mubarak.

"I swear to preserve the system of the republic, and respect the constitution and law, and guard the people's interests," Mansour said as he took the oath of office.

Mansour, as per a decree by army chief Gen Abdel Fattah Sisi, will serve as the Arab nation's interim president until a new leader is elected.

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The senior Egyptian jurist has suddenly found himself in the spotlight as the civilian face of the army-backed interim government following dramatic ouster of the Arab country's first democratically elected president Mohammed Morsi.

However, it is yet to be seen how much authority Mansour, who is said to be highly regarded, will truly wield.

His low-key demeanour might be the very reason the military picked him, analysts say.

"He represents what the military needs, a fairly low-profile but respected technocrat," said David Hartwell, a Middle East and North Africa analyst at Jane's Islamic Affairs.

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Born in 1945, Mansour received a licence to practise law from the CairoUniversity in 1967 and joined the state council in 1970, rising in the ranks until he was appointed deputy president of the HCC in 1992.

He was appointed as its president in May 2013 and took up his post on July 1 following retirement of justice Maher El-Beheiry.

Mansour was appointed in line with a new 2011 law, which stipulated that HCC heads should be appointed from within the court system. For 20 years, the HCC head was chosen from outside the constitutional court, Ahram online reported.

Cairo-born Mansour helped draft the supervision law for the presidential elections that brought Morsi to power in 2012, which included setting a legal timeframe for electoral campaigning. 

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