Egypt ex-spy chief Suleiman to run for president

[DJKeefy]

Egypt's former spy chief and vice president Omar Suleiman will run for the presidency after all in the upcoming election, ending weeks of speculation.

Suleiman, who served as Hosni Mubarak's vice president before the strongman's overthrow last year, said in statement last Wednesday that he would sit out the election because getting the nomination was too difficult.

"I tried until yesterday morning to overcome the obstacles related to the current situation and the administrative, financial and organisational demands of candidacy, but I found that was beyond my capability," he said.

Candidates bidding for the presidency need 30,000 signatures from people or support of a party in parliament.

The election on May 23 and 24 will be the first presidential vote since the ouster of Mubarak in a popular uprising in February last year that led to military rule.

Source: http://213.158.162.45/~egyptian/index.p ... s&id=23844