The body overseeing Egypt's presidential election Saturday disqualified 10 candidates from the race, including the Muslim Brotherhood's Khairat Al-Shater, former spy chief Omar Suleiman and conservative Salafi sheikh Hazem Salah Abu Ismail. Farouk Sultan, head of the presidential Election Commission, said the disqualified candidates had 48 hours to appeal. He did not give reasons for their disqualification. The disqualification would redraw the electoral map with just weeks to go before the May vote that decides who will replace Hosni Mubarak as head of the Arab World's most populous country. Abu Ismail's candidacy has been in doubt since the commission received notification from the US that his late mother had an American passport, a status that would disqualify him from the race. A spokesman for the Shater campaign said their candidate had already prepared his appeal. Shater's candidacy had been in doubt because of a former criminal conviction. “We will not give up our right to enter the presidential race,” said Murad Muhammed Ali. “There is an attempt by the old Mubarak regime to hijack the last stage of this transitional period and reproduce the old system of governance.” Suleiman, appointed deputy president by Mubarak in his last days in power, entered the presidential race at the last moment, triggering both concern and heavy criticism from reformists who see him as a symbol of Mubarak's rule and a danger to democracy. Hussein Kamal, a top Suleiman aide, said his campaign would also challenge the commission's decision. “Omar Suleiman will take legal route to challenge this decision to exclude him from the presidential race,” he said.
