BREAKING: Ahmed Shafiq officially disqualified from Egypt presidency race

Mubarak's last prime minister cannot run for president, says presidential electoral commission

Egypt's Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission (SPEC) on Tuesday evening has officially disqualified Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak's last prime minister, from running in next month's scheduled presidential elections.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) had ratified late Monday the Disenfranchisement Law (officially called the Corrupting of Political Life Law), and sent it for a final vote to Parliament.
An official statement was issued in the state newspaper, Al-Gareeda Al-Rasmeya on Tuesday morning, thus allowing for the immediate implementation of the law.
The law, which was discussed and approved last week by the People's Assembly, places limits on the political rights of certain citizens.
According to the law, a limited number of individuals who served in top positions in the last ten years of Hosni Mubarak's rule would not be eligible to enter the presidential race set for May of this year. Nor are they able to run for public posts for the next five years.
The SPEC had announced earlieron Tuesday that it would hold an emergency to discuss ways of implementing the newly ratified Disenfranchisement Law.
A former commander of the Egyptian Air Force and politician, Ahmed Shafiq was a long-time minister in Mubarak's government and served as his last prime minister in the final stretch of the rule of the ousted president.
Ahmed Shafiq's official presidential campaign team had issued an urgent statement on his official Facebook page midday Tuesday, saying they will go to court if Shafiq is excluded from the presidential race.