Nine to challenge Mubarak in presidential poll 20 applicants rejected with final list of Egypt’s presidential candidates due to be announced by August 13. Middle East Online By Sophie Claudet - CAIRO Egypt's electoral commission has endorsed just 10 candidates wanting to run in the country's first contested presidential poll next month, including veteran President Hosni Mubarak.
"Twenty applicants were rejected and 10 were approved to run for the presidential election," the commission said in statement released overnight.
Those who did not make the cut for the September 7 election have 48 hours to contest the decision and the commission will review their case within the following 24 hours.
A final list is due to be announced no later than August 13.
Among the short-listed candidates are Mubarak, the head of the ruling National Democratic Party who will seek a fifth six-year mandate, and his main rival, prominent opposition leader Ayman Nur from Al-Ghad (Tomorrow).
The others are: Numan Gumaa of the liberal Wafd party, Ahmed Awad Allah of the Umma party, Mamduh Qinawi from the Constitutional party, Osama Shaltut from the Solidarity party, Kamal Kasbah from the Social Justice party, Ibrahim Turk from the Democratic Union party, Rifaat al-Agrudi from the National Concord party and Wahid al-Uqsuri from the Egypt Arab Communist party.
The state-owned Al-Akhbar newspaper cited disputes within parties over their designated candidate and irregularities about the parties' constitutions as the reasons for the rejection of 20 applicants from seven political movements.
Nur, who is currently being tried on what he claims are trumped up charges of forgery, said one his supporters had been shot and wounded by police on Monday while he was putting up campaign posters in a Cairo suburb.
"It's obvious that the regime is trying to undermine my election bid," Nur said.
A police source confirmed that Mussa had been wounded but could not say whether police had opened fire in the incident, which occurred nine days before the official start of campaigning.
Nur, whose court case has boosted his profile and drawn fierce condemnation from Washington, has emerged as Mubarak's only serious challenger.
The short-listed candidates will be the first to run against a sitting president in Egypt's history, in line with changes to the constitution approved by a referendum in May to allow multi-candidate presidential elections.
Until now Egyptians had only been able to say yes or no to a single candidate appointed by parliament, which is dominated by the NDP.
However, opposition parties have said the reform does not go far enough as it severely restricts independent candidates and overwhelmingly favors Mubarak's party.
Around 100 people withdrew candidate registration forms last week, but only 30 candidates from 16 parties turned in acceptable applications, the commission said.
None of the independent would-be candidates managed to get the required 250 signatures of elected national or local officials. Egypt's political institutions are largely dominated by Mubarak's NDP.
Party leaders are exempt from the 250 signatures requirement but all candidates must be over 40 years of age.
The campaign will kick off on August 17 and end on September 4 ahead of the September 7 vote. If necessary, a second round will be held on September 17.
If no candidate secures a majority in the first round, both front-runners will be allowed to campaign again between the two rounds.
Die ägyptische Wahlkommission hat zehn Kandidaten zur Präsidentenwahl am 7. September zugelassen. 20 Bewerber wurden laut Wahlkommission nicht zur Wahl zugelassen.

Muhammad Husni Mubarak, seit 1981 Staatspräsident von Ägypten, strebt eine fünfte Amtszeit an. Der 77-jährige Mubarak ist Nachfolger des ermordeten Anwar as-Sadat. Eine Verfassungsergänzung, die im Mai 2005 per Referendum angenommen wurde, erlaubt zum ersten Mal eine Präsidentenwahl mit mehreren Kandidaten. Zuvor wurde in Ägypten über einen Kandidaten abgestimmt, der vom Parlament ernannt wurde, wobei Mubaraks Nationaldemokratische NDP über eine Mehrheit im Parlament verfügt.

Als bekanntesten Herausforderer ließ die Wahlkommission Aiman Nur von der oppositionellen Partei al-Ghad (der Morgen) zu, die als liberal gilt. Die weiteren Kandidaten sind Numan Gumaa von der liberalen Wafd Partei, Ahmed Awad Allah von der Umma party, Mamduh Qinawi von der Verfassungspartei, Osama Shaltut von der Solidaritätspartei, Kamal Kasbah von der Partei für soziale Gerechtigkeit, Ibrahim Turk von der Demokratischen Union, Rifaat al-Agrudi von der Nationalen Einheitspartei und Wahid al-Uqsuri von der Ägyptisch-Arabischen Kommunistischen Partei. Kein Unabhängiger Kandidat wurde zur Wahl zugelassen.

Beobachter gehen davon aus, dass Mubarak dank der Kontrolle der Medien und der Dominanz seiner Nationaldemokratischen Partei (NDP) die Wahl gewinnen wird. Vielen Oppositionsparteien geht die Verfassungsänderung nicht weit genug. Das Wahlrecht benachteiligt aus ihrer Sicht unabhängige Kandidaten. Zwei Oppositionsparteien boykottieren die Wahl im September. Auch die Muslimbruderschaft stellt keinen Kandidaten auf. Die Partei ist offiziell verboten, wird jedoch geduldet.

Die von der Wahlkommission abgelehnten Bewerber haben 48 Stunden Zeit um ihrern Ausschluss anzufechten. Am 13. August wird die Kommission dann eine endgültige Liste der Bewerber vorlegen. Unter den abgelehnten Bewerbern befindet sich auch Talaat Sadat, ein Neffe von Anwar as-Sadat.