CAIRO: High Elections Commission announced today 10 candidates have been barred from the presidential race. The ultra-conservative Salafist candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, former vice president and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, and Muslim Brotherhood candidate Khairat al-Shater are amongst the excluded candidates, reported Al-Shorouk newspaper. Candidates Mortada Mansour and Ahmed Awad Al-Saidi are reportedly also stripped from eligibility. Thirteen candidates now remain for the presidential elections that will be held the 23 and 24 of May. In recent weeks the presidential race has become increasingly heated in a series of unexpected events. The Muslim Brotherhood and Salafists staged a mass rally last Friday to express anger against the remnants of the old regime. Revolutionary youth movements have planned a major protest for the upcoming Friday to “revive the spirit of the revolution.”