World

Egypt Bans Top Islamist Candidates From Presidential Election

(AP) — Egypt’s election commission disqualified 10 presidential hopefuls, including Hosni Mubarak’s former spy chief and fundamentalist Islamists, from running Saturday in a surprise decision that left a field of moderates in the race for the country’s first post-revolutionary leader.

The elimination of the three most powerful and controversial candidates could go in two directions with just weeks to go before the vote, observers said. It could plunge the Arab world’s most populous nation into a new political crisis, or just the opposite, defuse it.

Farouk Sultan, the head of the Supreme Presidential Election Commission that was appointed by Egypt’s military rulers to oversee the vote, said that those barred from the contest included Mubarak-era strongman Omar Suleiman, Muslim Brotherhood chief strategist Khairat el-Shater and hard-line Islamist Hazem Abu Ismail. He did not give reasons.

Egypt Bans Top Islamist Candidates From Presidential Election

Khairat el-Shater

Disqualified candidates have 48 hours to appeal the decision, according to election rules. The final list of candidates will be announced on April 26.

The announcement came as a shock to many Egyptians as three of the 10 excluded were considered among the front-runners in a highly polarized campaign that has left the nation divided behind two strong camps: Islamists and former regime insiders who are allegedly supported by the ruling generals.

Thirteen others had their candidacy approved, including former Arab League chief Amr Moussa, moderate Islamist Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh and former prime minister and Mubarak-era minister Ahmed Shafiq, according to Sultan.

If upheld, the decision would reshape the electoral landscape by removing the most powerful and controversial candidates and leaving moderates such as Abolfotoh, an ex-Muslim Brotherhood leader who has been trying to project crossover appeal for both religious conservatives and liberals, and Moussa, who was a member of the old regime but is popular among middle class Egyptians and who is not so closely associated with it.

The presidential election is due on May 23-24, with a possible runoff on June 16-17. The winner will be announced on June 21, less than two weeks before the July 1 deadline promised by the military rulers who took over after Mubarak to hand over power.

Abu Ismail, a lawyer-turned-preacher whose eligibility had come under scrutiny in recent weeks over the question of whether his late mother had dual Egyptian-U.S. citizenship, accused the military rulers who assumed power after Mubarak’s ouster of trying to manipulate the race from behind the scenes and warned his followers would not stay silent.

“You will drown, God willing, because you are in showdown with the people, because you are playing with fire,” he said in an interview with the Islamist TV network Al-Hakma.

Abu Ismail has led the most aggressive campaign so far. On the eve of the announcement, hundreds of his supporters surrounded the election commission’s headquarters in Cairo, forcing Sultan and his employees to evacuate under the military protection.

Egypt Bans Top Islamist Candidates From Presidential Election

Hazem Abu Ismail (Photo: Al-Arabiya)

A new election law passed after Mubarak’s ouster bars an individual from running if the candidate, the candidate’s spouse or parents hold any citizenship other than Egyptian, and the commission had ordered the Interior Ministry to provide evidence showing whether Abu Ismail’s mother was officially documented in Egypt as having dual U.S. -Egyptian citizenship.

A spokesman for el-Shater’s campaign, Murad Mohammed Ali, also called the decision “very dangerous” and said it gives a message that “there was no revolution in Egypt.”

The Muslim Brotherhood fielded the head of its political arm Mohammed Morsi as a back-up candidate last week, fearing that el-Shater would be disqualified on the grounds that his records were not entirely cleared after serving time in prison in connection with his banned political activity under Mubarak. His lawyers say the ruling generals had dropped the charges. Morsi was not disqualified.

Despite the fiery rhetoric and promises from those disqualified to appeal, some Egyptians welcomed the news.

“This is much better,” said Ahmed Khalil, a spokesman of the liberal Free Egyptians party, which was not fielding a candidate. “These three candidates were holding extremist ideologies or holding an intelligence agenda.”

The announcement was the latest twist in an already convulated political scene as the nation struggles to redefine itself and navigate a difficult transition to civilian rule.

In the last two weeks, a court suspended the work of an Islamist-dominated, 100-member panel tasked with drafting a new constitution on the grounds its makeup violated the spirit of the interim charter that governed its formation.

Islamists as well as the largely liberal and secular activists who spearheaded the protests that led to Mubarak’s ouster had hoped to have a new constitution in place before the election in order to curtail the powers of the president after nearly three decades of autocratic rule.

The Muslim Brotherhood – which along with hard-line ultraconservative Salafis captured more than 70 percent of the parliament seats in the first post-revolutionary elections – announced on March 31 that el-Shater would run for president.

Egypt Bans Top Islamist Candidates From Presidential Election

Mohammed Morsi

That reversed an earlier pledge not to seek the office and came after weeks of complaints by the Brotherhood that the parliament they control is toothless and that the ruling military was preventing it from forming a government.

In what was seen as a countermove backed by the generals, Suleiman made an unexpected announcement a week later that he was entering the race for the presidential elections. Suleiman said he had decided to run to bloc

k Islamist rule and provide stability after more than a year of turmoil.

A judge close to the commission, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to disclose the information, said that Suleiman has not presented the proper number of endorsements. Each candidate needed at least 30,000 endorsements, including at least 1,000 from each of the country’s 15 provinces, to join the race.

His campaign spokesman Mohammed Mishal promised to present extra endorsements that have not been used, giving him a gateway to re-enter the race.

Another campaign spokeswoman Reem Mamdouh said in an interview with the local CBC television network that they had not been officially notified about the decisions but would definite appeal.

“Suleiman will never withdraw and let down the hopes of the large constituency of Egyptians who supported him. This is not happening,” she said.

Ayman Nour, a liberal presidential hopeful, said the commission told him he was disqualified because of his imprisonment as a dissident under Mubarak’s regime and because his name was not listed among registered voters.

He also promised to appeal, saying the decision was “politicized as the whole race is deeply politicized.”

Comments (85)

1 2
  • lukerw
    Posted on April 15, 2012 at 2:09am

    Being Nudged… toward participation in the Caliphate!

    Report Post » lukerw  
  • kindling
    Posted on April 15, 2012 at 12:48am

    I wish we could do something like this…..if you don‘t love the Constitution and support small government you can’t run. If you lie and get elected but turn to socialist behavior you will be given a choice of countries from which you will be shipped off to, never to come back! That goes for SC justices too.

    Report Post » kindling  
    • Nick84
      Posted on April 15, 2012 at 4:08am

      So basically, if someone doesn’t agree with you they should be exiled?

      Report Post »  
    • suz
      Posted on April 15, 2012 at 4:55am

      kindling was not saying that at all. learn to comprehend what you are reading.

      Report Post » suz  
    • TomFerrari
      Posted on April 15, 2012 at 7:50am

      I think kindling liked the intent behind their law that you, your spouse, and your parents, must all be citizens of no other country. Such protective laws would indeed have prevented this Manchurian Candidate #POTUS.
      Living abroad in ones formative years is indeed an issue, IMHO. Let alone a father and mother who spent their lives abroad, fighting for communism and socialism. Let alone a father who wasn’t a US citizen, but a British citizen, and our existing laws that address exactly that.
      Let alone a court in Georgia that summonsed a candidate, was snubbed by that candidate when he and his lawyers refused to even show up (after all, he is above the law, huh). Let alone a corrupt system that found in his favor in spite of not waging ANY defense, even though the law requires the court ONLY consider facts entered as evidence during the trial.

      Of course, What good are laws when we have a corrupt judiciary and when we lack the fortitude to enforce the laws we have in place already.

      Report Post » TomFerrari  
    • tzion
      Posted on April 15, 2012 at 9:26am

      Well, since the President has to swear to uphold the Constitution, intentionally violating it would in essence be a breach of contract not to mention lying under oath. We could make that punishable by law.

      Report Post »  
    • dmerwin
      Posted on April 15, 2012 at 11:26am

      That is exactly why our country is better than any others. While I would like to see smaller government, we have the ability to prove that bigger government doesn’t work and change with an election.

      Report Post » dmerwin  
    • Lloyd Drako
      Posted on April 15, 2012 at 12:07pm

      “if you don‘t love the Constitution and support small government you can’t run.” An interesting suggestion, but how about some practicalities? How exactly does a prospective candidate prove his “love” for the Constitution prior to actually running and winning office? How “small” does he have to say he wants government to be to qualify? Smaller than it is now? Smaller than it was 50 or 100 years ago? If an elected official violates campaign promises, as every successful candidate has done since the beginning of time, what legal procedure would you suggest to remove him? If, having taken an oath to defend the Constitution, you are determined by due process to have violated the Constitution, there are already remedies in place, namely impeachment.

      Report Post » Lloyd Drako  
    • crazyrightwingmom
      Posted on April 15, 2012 at 12:10pm

      Nick: why are we ashamed to say that we have the best government the world has ever known? If you don’t think that, you really shouldn’t be leading us…unless that is, you mean to lead us to disaster with socialism/communism.

      Report Post »  
    • ojai7865
      Posted on April 15, 2012 at 12:42pm

      Impeachment needs to be easier to do that is what really should happen.

      if enough voters sign a petition or bring a class action suite just make the party bringing suite or petition responsible for the cost or the proceedings in a loss to limit frivolousness.

      Report Post »  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on April 15, 2012 at 12:48pm

      @TomFerrari
      This is a bit off topic but here it is;
      1- Sherriff Joe in Arizona had determined that the pdf of Obama’s birth certificate he downloaded from the White House website is an electronic forgery.
      2- The Hospital on BHO’s BC did not exist until 1978. Two other Hospitals merged in 1978 and formed the new Hospital with a new name.
      3- The term African American did not exist until 1987. In his poem, “I Can” Johnny Duncan created the term.
      4- In 1961, the term N e g r o was used for the birth race of black people. So how could the term African American be on BHO’s BC in 1961?

      Just saying that too many facts say that BHO was not born in Hawaii in 1961.

      Report Post » The-Monk  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on April 15, 2012 at 1:02pm

      @TomFerrari
      With the links included;
      1- Sherriff Joe in Arizona had determined that the pdf of Obama’s birth certificate he downloaded from the White House website is an electronic forgery.
      2- The Hospital on BHO’s BC did not exist until 1978. Two other Hospitals merged in 1978 and formed the new Hospital with a new name.
      http://www.kapiolani.org/women-and-children/about-us/default.aspx
      3- The term African American did not exist until 1987. In his poem, “I Can” Johnny Duncan created the term.
      http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Where_did_the_term_African-American_originate
      http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/African_American
      “Terms for Blacks were given to them by members of the dominant culture and were not the way the African descendants referred to themselves, nor did they follow same pattern as for the naming of other groups of Americans. In light of this, in the early 1980s black activists proposed a name that followed the same pattern as that of other “hyphenated Americans”. High profile people such as Jesse Jackson are credited with helping to spread the use of the term. It is interesting that “African American” caught on so quickly, because by the closing decades of the 20th Century, the term Black American, a legacy from the Black Pride Movement, was the undisputed term of choice.”
      4- In 1961, the term N e g r o was used for the birth race of black people. So how could the term African American be on BHO’s BC?

      Report Post » The-Monk  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on April 15, 2012 at 1:07pm

      @TomFerrari
      Sorry, I left out the Sheriff Joe link;
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s9StxsFllY

      Report Post » The-Monk  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on April 15, 2012 at 1:28pm

      @TomFerrari
      Dismiss # 3 about the Hospital. I downloaded an Obama BC pdf where someone ‘“changed” the name. It‘s easy to do I guess since it’s a multi-layer pdf. I got taken on that one. : (

      Report Post » The-Monk  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on April 15, 2012 at 1:32pm

      @TomFerrari
      Dismiss # 2 about the Hospital, not #3.

      Report Post » The-Monk  
  • trueamerican40
    Posted on April 15, 2012 at 12:43am

    Don’t worry everybody…it’s the Arab spring…(connotating sarcasm–thick and heavy). I say let them destroy each other—they are pretty good at it.

    Report Post » trueamerican40  
  • cruzinbill
    Posted on April 14, 2012 at 11:05pm

    I just want to say what great job the Dems did in destroying this country.

    Report Post »  
  • NOBALONEY
    Posted on April 14, 2012 at 10:05pm

    If the Muslin Brotherhood is unable support one of the remaining candidates. There will be a confrontation with the Egyptian Court, Election Commission, and the Military. The Muslin Brotherhood White House visit may be delayed or forgotten.

    Report Post » NOBALONEY  
  • Walkabout
    Posted on April 14, 2012 at 10:01pm

    Go away

    Report Post »  
  • blackyb
    Posted on April 14, 2012 at 10:01pm

    Egypt has displayed more sense than what was displayed when they allowed Obama to steal into our office. They better keep that bunch of black panthers out over there or they will have to end up beheading them. Those panthers think they are smarter than those people who have been in that land for thousands of years. They have enough problems over there than to let that bunch of burr heads infiltrate their government.

    Report Post » blackyb  
  • chips1
    Posted on April 14, 2012 at 9:21pm

    If Egypt can do it, why can’t we?

    Report Post »  
  • Mr.Fitnah
    Posted on April 14, 2012 at 9:06pm

    So much for fair and open elections.

    Report Post » Mr.Fitnah  
  • Wringeaux
    Posted on April 14, 2012 at 8:47pm

    Khairat el-Shater is one CREEPY looking man ! masochist ? Take a good look at his billboard photo.

    Report Post » Wringeaux  
  • flatdaddio
    Posted on April 14, 2012 at 8:35pm

    May their_shit come to life and kiss them on the face.

    Report Post »  
  • hi
    Posted on April 14, 2012 at 8:32pm

    Is Obama running?

    Report Post » hi  
    • blackyb
      Posted on April 14, 2012 at 10:08pm

      They know better. He may become a second in command in Iran. Wonder what kind of name he will use over there?

      Report Post » blackyb  
    • RepubliCorp
      Posted on April 15, 2012 at 10:41am

      Wonder what kind of name he will use over there? “The Jerk”

      Report Post » RepubliCorp  
  • marine249
    Posted on April 14, 2012 at 8:22pm

    End to end, they all look the same

    Report Post »  
  • SPOT_OF_TEA
    Posted on April 14, 2012 at 8:10pm

    They disqualified the radicals leaving a field of moderates…A.K.A. drop the radical pose for the radical ends…..Field of moderates…That cracks me up.

    Report Post » SPOT_OF_TEA  
    • blackyb
      Posted on April 14, 2012 at 10:17pm

      They just have a few less kill quotas per week. That makes them moderates.

      Report Post » blackyb  
  • RevelantRaider
    Posted on April 14, 2012 at 8:07pm

    Excuse me, Mr. BLAZE WebMaster…are you there?

    If you are, could we PLEASE take down the picture of the guy’s protruding breasts just above this post under “MORE FROM THE BLAZE” (Miss Universe Canada Finalist Disqualified After Admitting She Was Born a Boy).
    2 weeks ago

    I understand and appreciate you running the story, but I have grown quite tired of scrolling past it as I go to read posts such as this one.

    I really do enjoy your service, but will have to look to another site if I am constantly tempted to look at this freak of un-nature. (No, it is really not tempting to me, but why should I have to put up with this from an otherwise respectable news service).

    Two weeks? Isn’t that enough? Let’s move on to things that matter.

    Report Post »  
    • marine249
      Posted on April 14, 2012 at 8:24pm

      I agree also take down the other 4 they are also getting old.

      Report Post »  
    • hi
      Posted on April 14, 2012 at 8:30pm

      I agree!!

      Report Post » hi  
    • blackyb
      Posted on April 14, 2012 at 10:19pm

      Wouldn’t hurt a thing. Who cares about some boy wanting to be a woman. He needs to joint a gay contest if he wants to compete, or a some contest that they have for those who whack off their Johnsons.

      Report Post » blackyb  
    • KangarooJack
      Posted on April 14, 2012 at 11:30pm

      I agree and Thank You for your post. I’ve actually been thinking the same thing for the past 4-5 days.

      Report Post » KangarooJack  
  • possom
    Posted on April 14, 2012 at 7:56pm

    I smell another obama apology!

    Report Post » possom  
  • marybethelizabeth
    Posted on April 14, 2012 at 7:52pm

    Glenn Beck Was Wrong?

    Hehehehehehehehe

    Report Post » marybethelizabeth  
    • Psychosis
      Posted on April 14, 2012 at 8:09pm

      gloating too early methinks

      this is how civil wars start ………………….and you would realize this if you were actually capable of thought

      Report Post » Psychosis  
    • progressiveslayer
      Posted on April 14, 2012 at 8:22pm

      Awww now Mary your glee is a little premature and time will tell the tale.

      Report Post » progressiveslayer  
    • Puddle Duck
      Posted on April 14, 2012 at 9:22pm

      With a parliament already dominated by a Muslim brotherhood majority the election of a Presidential “figurehead” is just a sideshow fomality. The Military will be hard pressed to hand over the riegns of piower to a group that is actively persuing a doctrine of turning back the clock 700 years. make no mistake within 1 year Egypt will be in direct conflict either with Israel or at war within (between those that wish to retain some semblence of progress vs those that want strict Islamic Sharia).The fundamendlists have won every political battle thus far. The militray is sending a not so subtle signal wuith this move, in hopes or reasserting some measure of face in hopes of swinging moderates into thier camp.

      Report Post » Puddle Duck  
    • burnteye86
      Posted on April 15, 2012 at 5:28am

      I’m sure Glenn Beck is wrong sometimes Mary, but it’s a little soon to know in this case. The only person who is never wrong would be Jesus Christ. You seem (like most liberals) to be under the impression that conservatives worship Beck. That’s not the case. Most of us recognize that Glenn Beck is just exposing the corruption and lies of the Obama regime. When he is wrong about something he says, he will be the first to admit it. That’s not the case with the prevaricator in chief we have now. Obama lies all the time, and when he’s called on it he lies some more.

      Report Post » burnteye86  
    • Shasta
      Posted on April 15, 2012 at 4:13pm

      Hey Mary, I for one join Glenn Beck in hoping that Glenn Beck is wrong. He, along with most of us, usally hope he is wrong, but most often he is right on the mark. Either way, in this case the Muslim Brotherhood is definately trying to gain total control, and they may well suceed.

      Report Post » Shasta  
  • GoodStuff
    Posted on April 14, 2012 at 7:42pm

    Why is the Blaze still using AP articles? Good grief.

    How are we ever suppose to have a media revolution when the so-called conservative New Media is depending on the old palace guards of the media world?

    Report Post »  
  • flsnipe
    Posted on April 14, 2012 at 7:38pm

    OTOH! Here we go again this should be interesting.

    Report Post » flsnipe  
  • calisun
    Posted on April 14, 2012 at 7:29pm

    Surely this will start a war …..

    Report Post » calisun  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on April 14, 2012 at 7:29pm

    Civil war is about to begin once again; and I can imagine Obama will rush to aid the Muslim Brotherhood fairly quickly.

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
  • JACKTHETOAD
    Posted on April 14, 2012 at 7:23pm

    Hang in there, Egypt!

    Report Post » JACKTHETOAD  
  • abbygirl1994
    Posted on April 14, 2012 at 7:19pm

    I am so glad God allowed me to b born in America!! The middle east stinks!

    Report Post » abbygirl1994  
    • Itsjusttim
      Posted on April 14, 2012 at 7:56pm

      abbygirl1994,
      God didn’t do it, you did it, because if you had been more of a glutton before, then you would have been outside the United States with all the other whore-mongers. Why do you think it is that other nations gobbled-up Socialism so early? And why do you think it is that other nations cover every single body part of women? And why do you think the seas around the U.S have always despised the U.S?

      Report Post » Itsjusttim  
    • Itsjusttim
      Posted on April 14, 2012 at 7:59pm

      That being said however, Americans have come to not appreciate what they have, have become spoiled, and allowed themselves to slip into slumber also getting numbered.

      Report Post » Itsjusttim  
    • Itsjusttim
      Posted on April 14, 2012 at 8:07pm

      And it was foolish for the United States to have ever just said “Come on in” to people. It’s a good way to sink yourself below the burning seas.

      Report Post » Itsjusttim  
    • Itsjusttim
      Posted on April 14, 2012 at 8:12pm

      That‘s why the American Indians didn’t want Europeans anywhere near their land, because they knew they would wreck it.

      Report Post » Itsjusttim  
    • Puddle Duck
      Posted on April 14, 2012 at 9:41pm

      Tim….the Dr said that medication was to be taken orally not rectally. Doofus.

      Report Post » Puddle Duck  
    • blackyb
      Posted on April 14, 2012 at 10:14pm

      They are jealous. Besides they want our White color period. People who look and dress like whores or prostitues have to use their bodies to get ahead. They are laughed at behind their backs and used, not respected. It seems they invalidate their own selves by having no morals. They are trying to legitimize their sorry. They do this by allowing a hedonist party to make out like they respect these people. They are all nasty. Decent people know it, they know it and those hedonists know they are wallowing in something that will advance on them like aids. It is a virus of sin and depravity. It knows no bounds.

      Report Post » blackyb  
  • Paul
    Posted on April 14, 2012 at 7:14pm

    Here we go again…

    Report Post » Paul  
  • Baddoggy
    Posted on April 14, 2012 at 7:10pm

    Bring our troops home and let the Muslim Civil War happen already!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Report Post » Baddoggy  
    • KangarooJack
      Posted on April 14, 2012 at 11:35pm

      For goodness sakes that has been the case, in the Middle East, for hundreds of years. Throw in Africa with it’s Warlords and {gasp} I’m actually gonna type this….

      This would be the case in the United States if it were still in it’s “natural state”.

      Hem – Haw -

      Report Post » KangarooJack  
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