Egypts ruling military has approved a law banning Hosni Mubaraks top former officials from running for president,ruling out his last prime minister and possibly helping former Arab League chief Amr Moussa in his race against Islamists.
Ahmed Shafiqs elimination narrows the options for Egyptians who do not want an Islamist head of state: the other front-runners are the Muslim Brotherhoods Mohamed Mursi and Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh,a former member of the group.
Egypt holds its first presidential election since Mubaraks overthrow in February 2011 on May 23 and 24,with a likely run-off between the top two candidates in June. The ruling generals are due to hand power to the new president on July 1.
The sketchy opinion polls that are available put Moussa in the lead,suggesting he will head into the run-off against one of the Islamists.
Part of the votes that would have gone to Shafiq would go to Amr Moussa,because he is the only figure with government experience that remains in the race,said Mustapha Kamel al-Sayyid,a professor of political science at Cairo University.