A Wasat Party MP has submitted a draft law to amend Presidential Elections Law 174/2005 in an effort to prevent people associated with the Mubarak regime from running in the upcoming presidential election.
Essam Sultan's bill comes on the last day the Presidential Elections Commission accepted candidacy applications.
Former intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who served under ex-President Hosni Mubarak, submitted his application at the last minute.
The draft law states: “Anyone who worked during the five years preceding the departure of the former president in any political position, or as a consultant in a ministry or presidential institution, [or who was] a parliamentary representative of the [dissolved] National Democratic Party, or hired by the former president, will not be allowed to nominate himself for the presidency or to serve as the vice president, prime minister or any cabinet minister for a period of five years from the date of the referred resignation.”
The law goes on to say that all candidacy procedures would be canceled for any candidates who had nominated themselves prior to the law’s passage.
In his request to People's Assembly Speaker Saad al-Katatny, Sultan said the draft law aims to preserve the 25 January revolution.
The Wasat Party invited what it described as "patriotic presidential candidates" to a meeting on Sunday evening at its headquarters to discuss ways to face the "candidates who are former regime remnants." Presidential candidates Hamdeen Sabbahi and Abul Ezz al-Hariry immediately expressed their agreement to hold the meeting.
The upcoming presidential election, slated for 23 and 24 May, is the first of its kind since Mubarak's ouster after the 2011 January uprising.
Contenders include Suleiman, who briefly served as Mubarak's vice president; Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister before Mubarak's ouster; and Amr Moussa, a former foreign minister under the ousted president.
In November, the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces issued a political isolation law that aimed to prevent political figures who contributed to the corruption of political life from running in parliamentary or local elections for five years.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
