CAIRO - Candidates planning to run in Egypt's presidential elections should present documents of support from 30 members of Parliament (the People's Assembly and Shura Council) or 30,000 citizens who have the right to vote. This is stipulated in a draft of the presidential election law referred by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to the Advisory Council. The draft was published by the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) on Thursday. The draft also gives the right to any party who has at least one elected seat in Parliament to enter one of its members for the presidential race, MENA reported. The SCAF, which has been running the country since Hosni Mubarak's ousting last February, has pledged to hand over power to an elected president at the beginning of July 2012, when the soldiers will return to their barracks. The new rules for the presidential elections, which are scheduled to be held next June, will replace the old rules from the era of Mubarak, which effectively ruled out any realistic challenge to him. According to MENA, the draft has been presented to the Army's newly appointed Advisory Council for review. The Council has 30 members appointed by the SCAF, in order to give advice and consultations. The Council is also due to discuss other issues, but its opinions and views are only consultative and not abiding. The draft further stipulates that the 30,000 signatures supporting a presidential candidate should be from at least 15 of Egypt's 27 governorates. The Presidential Elections Commission (PEC) will be headed by the president of the Supreme Constitutional Court, assisted by the heads of the senior courts. The PEC determines the data require from candidates seeking to run for the presidency. The data should include information about the candidate's party and the seats that it has in Parliament, as well as personal information about the candidate. The voting will be held on one day, but it could be extended for another day if necessary. Over three decades in office, Mubarak's presidential conditions were made by a single candidate referendum, which he always won with crushing majorities. No candidate ran for the presidential elections before the 2005 elections when some people ran for the presidency. Mubarak won, although there was no significant challenger and the vote was marred by widespread abuses.
