CAIRO, April 8, 2012 (AFP)
Registration for candidacy in Egypt’s first post-uprising presidential election closes on Sunday, amid last-minute twists and turns that have shaken the political race.
Sixteen people have registered so far, each hoping to lead the Arab world’s most populous nation through a fragile transition following an uprising that toppled veteran president Hosni Mubarak last year.
The candidates include former Arab League chief Amr Mussa, ultra-conservative Islamist preacher Hazem Abu Ismail, Muslim Brotherhood candidate Khairat El-Shater and Mubarak’s last prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq.
Former intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, a stalwart of the Mubarak regime and seen as close to the ruling military, is due to register later on Sunday.
The registration process alone has been filled with drama, becoming the butt of jokes likening it to a soap opera.
Abu Ismail, known for his fervent anti-US rhetoric, was found to have a mother who held an American passport, disqualifying him from the race.
The presidential election law states that all candidates must be born to Egyptian parents who have never held citizenship of another nation.
And the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, which had repeatedly vowed not to field a candidate, made a dramatic U-turn and put forward Shater, only to find out later that he too may be disqualified.
Politician Ayman Nur, whose unprecedented challenge to Mubarak in presidential elections in 2005 earned him worldwide recognition, was last week pardoned of a conviction for fraud, allowing him to run for the top job.
But then on Saturday he was told that under the law he could only stand for the presidency six years after his pardon.
If Shater is banned under the same rule as Nur — he was freed from prison in March 2011 — the Muslim Brotherhood may instead field Mohammed Mursi, another candidate waiting in the wings just in case.
In response to what it called a “massacre” of Islamist candidates, the ultra-conservative Gamaa Islamiya announced that it was nominating hardliner Safwat Hegazy to stand, the official news agency MENA reported.
The first round of the election is due to take place on May 23 and 24.
