AhlulBayt News Agency

source : Press TV
Friday

27 April 2012

9:00:00 AM
311473

Egypt election committee names 13 presidential candidates

Egypt’s election committee has announced the final list of 13 candidates for the country’s upcoming presidential election.

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The list published on Thursday includes Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister to serve under the former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak.

"After listening to Shafiq's appeal, the committee decided to halt the decision to exclude him from the presidential race," Farouk Soltan, the head of the election committee said.

The list also included Mubarak's longtime foreign minister and former Arab League chief Amr Moussa.

Mohamed Morsi, head of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, Egypt’s most powerful political group, is also among the presidential contenders.

The polls are scheduled to be held in two rounds. The first would be held over two days on May 23 and 24 while a run-off, if necessary, would take place on June 16 and 17. Final results are expected on June 21.

The military council took power in the aftermath of the last February revolution in Egypt that overthrew Mubarak’s Western-backed regime.

The SCAF promised to step down after a six-month period and hand over power to a civilian government, a pledge it has so far failed to fulfill.

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