'Barred' Egyptian candidates start appeals against exclusion from presidential race

Cairo, Apr 16 (ANI): Three popular Egyptian presidential candidates, who were barred from taking part in the upcoming elections, have started appealing against their exclusions from the race.

Farouq Sultan, a judge who leads Egypt's election commission, said that Muslim Brotherhood candidate Khairat al-Shater, former intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and hard-line Islamist preacher Hazem Abu Ismail were among ten candidates barred from running.

Sultan gave no explanation for the candidates' exclusion in his statement, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The ten presidential hopefuls had 48 hours to appeal the decision.

According to the state-run media, Suleiman had submitted his appeal, while the two others said they would submit their appeal documents before Monday.

If the excluded presidential candidates fail in their appeals, the popular backlash is likely to be powerful.

According to the paper, the move threatens to launch a renewed round of instability only a month before Egypt's first post-revolutionary presidential elections and little more than two months before the military has promised to hand over power to an elected civilian president. (ANI)