The biggest surprises of the Egyptian presidential election, in which 23 candidates are taking part, are the nomination of Hosni Mubarak's former vice president Omar Suleiman and the Muslim Brotherhood candidate Khairat El-Shater, as well as the debate over the nationality of Hazem Abu Ismail's mother. Ismail's election hopes were revived when an Egyptian court Thursday ordered authorities to produce evidence that his mother has dual Egyptian-US citizenship. Following Suleiman's nomination, the People's Assembly of Egypt is discussing a draft law which gives power to remove a political leader. These events coincide with the decision of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), which is the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, to nominate party head Dr. Muhammad Morsi if El-Shater is disqualified as happened to Ayman Noor, head of El-Ghad Party. Added to these confusing scenarios is the rejection of the constitutional assembly by the majority of Egyptians. Tahrir Square today is witnessing another revolution called “Protection of the January 25th Revolution” led by the Muslim Brotherhood and 40 revolutionary movements. They have several demands but the most important is to place a 10-year ban on political figures of former regimes which would prevent them from nominating themselves for the presidential election. Many observers view Suleiman as a fierce competitor to former Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa and ex-prime minister Ahmed Shafiq. Other strong candidates are Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, a former Muslim Brotherhood leader, and Hamdeen Sabahi, who is pro-Abdul Nasser. The presidential election panel headed by Farouk Sultan has worked over the past two days on scrutinizing the file of each candidate to see if he fulfills all criteria. Informed sources told Saudi Gazette that six to nine candidates will be disqualified for failure to meet the requirements. The sources did not mention names. However, reports say that among the candidates who will be disqualified are Ashraf Barouma, who holds a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering and is the CEO of a Gulf development and training company; Khairat El-Shater and Ayman Noor. One candidate out of two will be chosen from the Egypt National Party: either consultant Murtada Mansour or Ahmad Awad Al-Sa'eedi. The sources also told Saudi Gazette that the poll panel will meet next Monday to decide on the pending cases of all candidates. The case of Hazem Abu Ismail's mother has caused a lot of debate. All candidates have been asked about their mother's nationality. Dr. Muhammad Sleem Al-Awa, who is of Syrian origin, was asked about his nationality and so was Amr Moussa, but the latter denied that his father and half-brother had French nationality. During their meeting with presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi Wednesday morning, revolutionaries called for a national unified position to elect a president from among them. They also expressed their concerns over attempts to put an end to the revolution. The coming days will be full of surprises as some candidates will pull out of the race for the sake of others. There are rumors, for example, that Ahmad Shafiq will pull out in favor of Suleiman. Meanwhile, in the midst of all these developments, Amro Khaled, the Muslim activist, received last Wednesday Titanic star Kate Winslet who came for a visit to Egypt. __
