Egypt bars 10 candidates from presidential election:
Mubarak's spy chief, Salafist leader and a Muslim Brotherhood candidate among those disqualified by election commission
Egypt's presidential election is suddenly a contest of moderates after a decision by the country's supreme election commission to bar 10 candidates from the race, including a controversial Mubarak-era spy chief and a popular Islamic fundamentalist.
Three leading candidates – the former intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate Khairat el-Shater and the popular Salafi Sheikh Hazem Abu Ismail, were disqualified at the weekend, taking the sting from a race that was growing more confrontational with each day.
The disqualified candidates are considering last-minute appeals, with the prospect of protest if they are not reinstated. A member of Abu Ismail's campaign warned of discontent if documents were fabricated to show his mother was a dual US-Egyptian national, the reason given for his disqualification. "We're waiting to see what Sheikh Hazem will do, he said he will appeal the decision," Mohamed Nasser said. "But if the government is lying by using false documents then we will escalate the matter with a peaceful sit-in."
A spokesman for Shater's campaign called the ban "very dangerous" and said it gave out a message that "there was no revolution in Egypt". The Muslim Brotherhood has another candidate, Mohammed Morsi. "If Shater is barred permanently then we will support our other candidate Mohamed Morsi in the same manner we would have supported Shater," said Mahmoud Helmy, an MP from the brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party. He added that the Brotherhood would not accept Suleiman as a candidate.
"The Brotherhood are in every street and every alley," said Helmy, "and in the end the people will decide, and will not allow their will to be manipulated into reproducing the Mubarak regime with its oppression and corruption."
Suleiman was disqualified for not presenting the proper number of signatures. In order to be eligible to run, candidates must get at least 30,000 signatures from people in various governorates that must be officially notarised at a public notary office. Suleiman could yet make the ballot paper if he can collect enough signatures in the coming days. Two other candidates with backgrounds in Egyptian intelligence were also barred
The bans leave a less controversial field to contest the 23-24 May presidential poll. Amr Moussa, a former foreign minister and ex-head of the Arab League, is neither supported by the Islamists nor by revolutionaries, nor is he particularly close to the military junta. It is this distance from all parties that could see him project him as compromise figure.
There are two other frontrunners: Abdel-Moneim Abul-Futoh is the former member of the Muslim Brotherhood who was expelled when he announced his decision to run for president at a time when the group had stated it would not field one. He is a consensus figure due to his Islamist background and his pro-revolutionary stance. He also has the support of many liberals for his moderate religious stance and his insistence for equal rights for all citizens, regardless of religion or gender. However, the Brotherhood seems dead set against him winning.
Morsi is not a well-known figure, but will have the full backing of the Brotherhood, which together with Islamic conservatives won more than 70% of the seats in parliamentary elections earlier this year.
Egypt's presidential election is suddenly a contest of moderates after a decision by the country's supreme election commission to bar 10 candidates from the race, including a controversial Mubarak-era spy chief and a popular Islamic fundamentalist.
Three leading candidates – the former intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate Khairat el-Shater and the popular Salafi Sheikh Hazem Abu Ismail, were disqualified at the weekend, taking the sting from a race that was growing more confrontational with each day.
The disqualified candidates are considering last-minute appeals, with the prospect of protest if they are not reinstated. A member of Abu Ismail's campaign warned of discontent if documents were fabricated to show his mother was a dual US-Egyptian national, the reason given for his disqualification. "We're waiting to see what Sheikh Hazem will do, he said he will appeal the decision," Mohamed Nasser said. "But if the government is lying by using false documents then we will escalate the matter with a peaceful sit-in."
A spokesman for Shater's campaign called the ban "very dangerous" and said it gave out a message that "there was no revolution in Egypt". The Muslim Brotherhood has another candidate, Mohammed Morsi. "If Shater is barred permanently then we will support our other candidate Mohamed Morsi in the same manner we would have supported Shater," said Mahmoud Helmy, an MP from the brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party. He added that the Brotherhood would not accept Suleiman as a candidate.
"The Brotherhood are in every street and every alley," said Helmy, "and in the end the people will decide, and will not allow their will to be manipulated into reproducing the Mubarak regime with its oppression and corruption."
Suleiman was disqualified for not presenting the proper number of signatures. In order to be eligible to run, candidates must get at least 30,000 signatures from people in various governorates that must be officially notarised at a public notary office. Suleiman could yet make the ballot paper if he can collect enough signatures in the coming days. Two other candidates with backgrounds in Egyptian intelligence were also barred
The bans leave a less controversial field to contest the 23-24 May presidential poll. Amr Moussa, a former foreign minister and ex-head of the Arab League, is neither supported by the Islamists nor by revolutionaries, nor is he particularly close to the military junta. It is this distance from all parties that could see him project him as compromise figure.
There are two other frontrunners: Abdel-Moneim Abul-Futoh is the former member of the Muslim Brotherhood who was expelled when he announced his decision to run for president at a time when the group had stated it would not field one. He is a consensus figure due to his Islamist background and his pro-revolutionary stance. He also has the support of many liberals for his moderate religious stance and his insistence for equal rights for all citizens, regardless of religion or gender. However, the Brotherhood seems dead set against him winning.
Morsi is not a well-known figure, but will have the full backing of the Brotherhood, which together with Islamic conservatives won more than 70% of the seats in parliamentary elections earlier this year.
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