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gypt’s banned candidates await consideration of appeals

17 April 2012 19:06 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Egyptian presidential candidates who have been barred from running for the next month election have filed appeals not to be excluded from the race, APA reports quoting Press TV.

On Saturday, Salafist nominee Hazem Abu Ismail, the Muslim Brotherhoodâ€™s Khairat al-Shater, and former intelligence chief Omar Suleiman were barred from the May polls along with seven others.

Representatives of the three main candidates filed appeals before the deadline on Monday and are waiting to see whether their appeals will be reviewed.

The Supreme Presidential Election Commission is expected to decide Tuesday which appeals are worthy of consideration, and a final list of candidates is expected on April 26.

The electoral commission says its decision to disqualify 10 of the 23 registered candidates is based on legal grounds.

Egyptians have been outraged by Suleimanâ€™s move earlier in the month to register as one of the presidential hopefuls in the countryâ€™s first-ever freely contested presidential elections.

Suleiman, who served as the head of Egypt’s General Intelligence Department for 18 years, is widely considered as a favorite of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which took power following the downfall of long-time dictator Hosni Mubarak in February 11, 2011.

Shater, whose disqualification was not unlikely due to a prison term he had served under Mubarak, had warned that Suleimanâ€™s presidential bid could spark a second revolution in the country.

Meanwhile, the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party has fielded a reserve candidate in case Shater gets barred by the electoral commission that was appointed by the country’s military rulers.

Egypt’s presidential polls are scheduled to be held over two days on May 23-24, while a run-off will take place on June 16-17, if necessary.

Final results are expected on June 21.