Cairo: Omar Suleiman, the former head of
intelligence and a loyal aide of ousted leader Hosni Mubarak
could run for president in upcoming elections, media reports
said Monday.
Sulaiman was vice-president for the last two weeks of
Mubarak`s regime.
"Omar Suleiman approaches the presidential battle," read
the headline of the state-owned daily Al-Ahram, adding that
his supporters would organise a march to his house to ask him
to declare his candidacy officially.
"I cannot refuse the call of the people, I don`t want
power but to prove my intention to serve the country for the
rest of my life," Suleiman was quoted as saying by another
state-owned daily, Al-Akhbar.
Meanwhile privately owned al-Yawm al-Sabi reported the
prosecutor general was looking into claims of illicit gains
made by Sulayman.
The former intelligence chief -- who was in charge of the
sensitive Israeli-Palestinian issue - is considered a staunch
enemy of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood.
Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood`s political arm, the
Freedom and Justice Party, was still deciding whom to back up
having said it would back a Muslim candidate who does not
belong to any Islamist political group.
But in a recent statement, the FJP said it would "examine
the possibility of nominating a leader of the party or the
Muslim Brotherhood as a candidate in the presidential
elections."
Meanwhile, the number of Egyptians who withdrew papers to
run for the post of president closed in on one thousand.
PTI
