CAIRO: Moussa Mustafa Moussa, chairman of an al-Ghad Party faction, announced that he intends to run in Egypt's upcoming presidential election, expected next year. Moussa said he is collecting votes to register as an official candidate as per constitutional requirements. He said he has collected 7,000 signatures from 20 governorates. Moussa criticized other potential presidential candidates, saying they have not collected any votes, which makes their candidacy unconstitutional. Moussa's announcement has heated up the presidential marathon, which includes former Arab League head Amr Moussa, former general director of the IAEA Mohamed el-Baradei, Judge Hisham Bastawisy, Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh and Hazem Salah Abu Ismail. Also potentially in the running is Ayman Nour, head of the al-Ghad al-Thawra Party, a reformation of al-Ghad Party, which Nour founded in 2004. In 2005, a faction led by Moussa split off and was at one time recognized as the official version of al-Ghad Party.
