CAIRO: Egypt announce that it will hold its first presidential elections since the ouster of Hosny Mubarak on May 23-24, with a possible runoff scheduled for June 16-17, state television reported Wednesday quoting an election commission official. The new president would be announced on June 21, said Farouk Sultan, the head of the commission. Sultan said foreign monitoring of the election would not be allowed, according to the TV report. A dozen of presidential hopefuls have already launched bids for the country's top post. The influential Muslim Brotherhood, which controls nearly half of the seats in parliament, has said it will not nominate one of its members. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which has been ruling Egypt since Mubarak's overthrow in February 2011, has pledged to hand over power to an elected president by July. Leading the charge for Egypt's top job are former MB top official Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh – largely seen as the frontrunner, former Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, ultra-conservative Salafist Hazem Saleh Abu Ismail, former television presenter turned activist Bothaina Kamel and a number of other candidates. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/EJFi3 Tags: Elections, featured, President, State TV Section: Egypt, Latest News
