Egypt parliament votes to strip Mubarak regime officials of their political rights
Military council must ratify bill designed to keep Omar Suleiman out of presidential race; Islamists plan major protest for Friday
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s parliament has passed a bill that strips senior figures of ousted President Hosni Mubarak’s regime of their political rights for 10 years.
Thursday’s vote is designed to stop Mubarak’s former spy chief and vice president, Omar Suleiman, from running in next month’s presidential election.
The law would only come into effect if the military council that took over from Mubarak when he stepped down last year ratifies it.
This is unlikely to happen before the election commission issues a final list of presidential candidates, which is expected later this month. Decisions of the election commission cannot be appealed.
The law covers those who served in top posts, from the president down to leaders of his ruling party, during the 10 years prior to Mubarak’s ouster.
The election for the first president since the ousted Mubarak is shaping into a showdown between Suleiman and Islamists led by the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, which announced on March 31 that its deputy leader, Khairat Shater, would run.
The Brotherhood and other Islamists plan a large protest in Cairo on Friday against Suleiman’s candidacy, the first major attempt to move the competition into the street.