Leading Candidates Disqualified from Presidential Race

Three Egyptian candidates were disqualified from running

Egypt’s presidential election commission disqualified three out of the five front runners in the presidential race: Omar Suleiman (for falling 31 signatures short of the required 30,000), Khairat al-Shater (for a previous jail sentence), and Hazem Saleh Abu Ismail (over his mother’s having obtained American citizenship). All three candidates have appealed the decision. The Brotherhood had previously nominated Mohamed Morsi as a backup candidate in case al-Shater were to be disqualified. 

ELECTIONS: 

1) Egypt’s presidential election commission disqualified three out of the five front runners in the presidential race: Omar Suleiman (for falling 31 signatures short of the required 30,000), Khairat al-Shater (for a previous jail sentence), and Hazem Saleh Abu Ismail (over his mother’s having obtained American citizenship). All three candidates have appealed the decision. The Brotherhood had previously nominated Mohamed Morsi as a backup candidate in case al-Shater were to be disqualified. [New York Times, English, 4/16/2012] 

2) A poll conducted by the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies estimates that Ahmed Shafiq will benefit by 40 percent from the disqualification of three of the front-runners and Amr Moussa would benefit by 27.4 percent. The poll also indicated that the Muslim Brotherhood’s backup candidate, Mohamed Morsi, is not favored by Kharait al-Shater supporters, with only 13.3 percent saying they would pick Morsi next to Moussa and Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh. [al-Masry al-Youm, English, 4/16/2012] 

3) Ayman Nour is petitioning the presidential election commission to restore his political rights and include his name on the list of eligible candidates. [al-Masry al-Youm, Arabic, 4/16/2012] 

4) The Adl Party issued a statement rejecting proposals for the postponement of the presidential election until after the drafting of a new constitution, which would be “a coup against the path of democratic transformation.” The Adl Party expressed concern that the SCAF’s desire to complete the constitutional process before the presidential election would open the door for postponing the election indefinitely. [al-Shorouk, Arabic, 4/16/2012] 

CONSTITUTION: 

5) Field Marshal Tantawi met on April 15 with the heads of 17 political parties and several MPs to discuss the crisis over the constituent assembly. Tantawi reportedly told the attendees that he wants to see a new constitution drafted before the SCAF hands over power to civilian leadership at the end of June. After the meeting, the heads of the Freedom and Justice, Nour and Wafd parties issued a statement saying they had agreed to hold another joint parliamentary session to select a new constituent assembly. [al-Masry al-Youm, English, 4/16/2012] [al-Ahram, English, 4/16/2012] 

6) Brotherhood MP Mohamed al-Beltagy criticized the SCAF’s decision to convene a meeting with party leaders on April 15 in an effort to resolve the crisis over the constituent assembly, saying that only parliament has the authority to organize the drafting of the new constitution. [al-Masry al-Youm, English, 4/16/2012] [al-Ahram, English, 4/16/2012] 

7) Al-Azhar is in the process of launching an initiative containing recommendations for reformulating the constituent assembly. Under the proposal, the assembly members would be selected by a parliament-elected committee in keeping with the principle of fair representation for all social and political groups. [al-Shorouk, Arabic, 4/16/2012] 

ECONOMY: 

8) An Egyptian delegation is visiting Washington this week for meetings with World Bank and IMF officials. The Egyptian delegation is being led by Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Mohamed Salem, with the interim Minister of Finance, Momtaz El-Saeed, not arriving until April 19. Last week, El-Saeed said Egypt would sign a $3.2 billion loan deal with the IMF by 15 May, before the presidential election. [al-Ahram, English, 4/16/2012] 

Photo Credit: Getty

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