CAIRO: Rules for Egypt's 2012 presidential elections have been drafted by the military council, according to a report from the Middle East News Agency (MENA) on Thursday. According to the rules, candidates must gain the support of 30 members of parliament in order to run. Otherwise, candidates must collect the signatures of 30,000 citizens from at least 15 of Egypt's 27 governates, according to MENA. Additionally, parties with at least one elected seat in parliament will be allowed to run one candidate each. Egypt's newly formed consultative council is currently reviewing the draft laws. The new rules will replace those that governed presidential elections during Hosni Mubarak's 30-year presidency, which were largely set to protect his hold on power. After nine days of sustained violent clashes between anti-military council protesters and state security left at least 41 people dead and 3,000 injured in November, the military council vowed to expedite the timetable for elections, promising to host them before the end of June. According to a preliminary public survey conducted by Cairo's National Center for Social and Criminal Research on Egypt's presidential hopefuls, former Arab League Secretary General Amr Mousa ranked most popular, with 23.3 percent of the vote. Former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohammed ElBaradei, popular among Western crowds, finished second to last, with 4 percent of the vote. Egypt is now in its second of three phases of national voting for parliamentary elections, with results indicating an Islamist majority. The Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Freedom and Justice Party is in the lead, followed in second by the Salafi al-Nour Party. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/pZj5T No related posts. Tags: Elections, featured Section: Egypt, Latest News
