List of Potential Egyptian Presidential Candidates and Their Backgrounds

[9 has said it will not run its own candidate this time but it might still throw its weight behind one of the candidates who is running.) Independent candidates can get on the ballot either by getting a certain number of endorsements by parliamentary deputies or gathering signatures (30,000) from eligible voters. Already some candidates have announced they will run. Most prominent include the following: Amr Moussa, the former foreign minister and current secretary-general of the Arab League. While popular for his Arab nationalist stances, he will have to overcome his association with the past regime, which has already emerged as a major issue in his campaign. There is also Mohamed ElBaradei, the former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency and Nobel Prize winner. While respected for his clear articulation of liberal political stances and courage in openly criticizing the Mubarak regime, he will have to overcome a reputation for having an aloof and overly cerebral style. In addition, many Egyptians complain that he has spent (and continues to spend) too much time outside the country to be an appropriate candidate. Another candidate is Hisham al-Bastawisi, the leader of a group of judges who confronted the Mubarak regime over the last decade. Al- Bastawisi is, like ElBaradei, widely respected but does not appear to be a natural politician. There is also Ayman Nour, founder of Al-Ghad Party. Nour came in a distant second to former President Hosni Mubarak in 2005 and spent the subsequent four years in prison on politically motivated charges. Known as a born politician and an effective campaigner, and admired for his uncompromising opposition to Mubarak, Nour nonetheless enjoys less of a national reputation than Moussa and ElBaradei. And there is Hamdeen Sabahi, the founder of the Karama Party, a breakaway from the Nasserist Party that has long sought official HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_030048