Presidential candidates will start Sunday to appeal a decision by the Presidential Elections Commission to exclude them from upcoming election slated for 23 and 24 May. The commission excluded 10 hopefuls from the race Saturday, including former spy chief Omar Suleiman, conservative Salafi preacher Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, senior Muslim Brotherhood member Khairat al-Shater, Ghad al-Thawra Party founder Ayman Nour and lawyer Mortada Mansour. The commission will announce the final candidate list on 26 April. Hopefuls barred from the election have only Sunday and Monday to challenge their exclusion. Al-Masry Al-Youm had reported that Suleiman was disqualified over the inadequacy of signatures he had gathered from citizens to apply for nomination. A candidate must have 30,000 signatures from 15 separate governorates to qualify. Abu Ismail was excluded because of evidence his deceased mother had held US nationality, violating the terms of candidacy, a statement by the commission said. He had, however, won a court ruling Thursday that obliged the Interior Ministry to produce an official document that says his mother did not carry dual nationality. Shater and Nour, meanwhile, were removed over the prison term they had served under former President Hosni Mubarak, which disqualifies them, according to the elections law. Shater said the decision is aimed to empower figures linked to the former regime, adding that the measure leaves them no time to take action. He called on Egyptians to get ready to “take to the street.” Abu Ismail said he would submit his appeal against the decision Sunday morning, accusing the commission of dishonoring a promise to enable him to run following the court ruling he had obtained. On his Facebook page, Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh, a former Muslim Brotherhood member and another presidential hopeful, said “honorable patriots” should not be excluded from the presidential race. We Are All Khaled Saeed, a Facebook page that had ignited the uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak in January last year, also voiced support for Abu Ismail, Shater and Nour. The administrator said members stand by the three candidates against what it called the commission's unfair decisions. Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
