Thirteen to stand in Egypt presidential election back

posted on Thu, 26 Apr at 13:58

Egyptian officials have published the final list of those allowed to stand in the first presidential election to be held after the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak last year.


The list contains the names of 13 candidates, out of 23 who had initially applied to stand.

It includes former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq. He was excluded from the vote on Tuesday, but later readmitted.

The first round of the election is to be held on 23-24 May.

Other prominent hopefuls on the list are the the chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), Mohammed Mursi; the secularist former Arab League chief Amr Moussa; and an independent Islamist who broke away from the Muslim Brotherhood, Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh.

Announcing the list, Farouk Sultan, head of the Higher Presidential Election Commission, said the body had decided to accept Mr Shafiq's appeal against his exclusion.

Mr Shafiq's candidacy had been judged to infringe a law passed by the Islamist-dominated parliament that banned former Mubarak-era officials from standing.

His appeal said the law, which was ratified by the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf) on Tuesday, was unconstitutional. It has now been referred to Egypt's Constitutional Court.
Continue reading the main story
Election candidates

Seen as front-runners:

Ahmed Shafiq: Born 1941; commander of the air force 1996-2002, civil aviation minister 2002-11, briefly PM during February 2011 protests; has reputation of being honest and competent
Amr Moussa: Born 1936; foreign minister 1991-2001; Arab League head 2001-11; secular; outspoken critic of Israeli policies towards Palestinians; focused on economic policy and restoring stability
Mohammed Mursi: heads Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party; independent MP 2001-05; seen as safe pair of hands and close to Brotherhood's conservative mainstream; vows "stability, security, justice and prosperity"
Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh: Born 1951; Leading Brotherhood figure forced to leave after announcing candidacy last year; relatively liberal Islamist; imprisoned by regime 1996-2001; focused on social justice; popular among young

Other candidates include Islamic thinker Muhammad al-Awwa; leading judge Hisham al-Bastawisi; socialist MP Abu-al-Izz al-Hariri; left-wing rights activist Khalid Ali; co-founder of Nasserist Karama party Hamdin Sabbahi

He briefly served as prime minister during the mass protests that led to the resignation of President Mubarak.

Earlier, the electoral commission disqualified President Mubarak's former vice-president and spy chief, Omar Suleiman; the Muslim Brotherhood's initial prime candidate, Khairat al-Shater, and the hardline Salafi Islamist candidate Hazem Abu Ismail.

All three had been considered front-runners.

Officials said Mr Shater was barred because of a criminal conviction, and Mr Abu Ismail because his late mother held US nationality, which the Salafist denies.

Gen Suleiman was excluded because he was just 31 endorsements short of the 30,000 needed to get on the ballot.

His announcement earlier this month that he was standing was met with angry protests, largely by Islamists, who accused him of being part of a move by former leading officials to resurrect the old regime.

It is hoped that the May election, which comes more than a year after the uprising against Mr Mubarak's regime, will clear the way for the ruling military council to hand power over to the civilian authorities on 1 July.

If no candidate wins more than half the votes in the first round, a run-off between the top two will be held in June.

Source: BBC.