Egypt's electoral commission dismisses disqualified candidates’ appeals

"All appeals have been rejected because nothing new was offered in the appeal requests," a member of the commission, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters on Tuesday.

On Saturday, 10 of the 23 registered candidates for the upcoming presidential election were barred from running.

Salafist Hazem Abu Ismail, Muslim Brotherhood candidate Khairat al-Shater, and former intelligence chief Omar Suleiman were among those disqualified.

Representatives of the three candidates filed appeals before the deadline on Monday. A final list of candidates will be released on April 26.

The electoral commission says its decision to disqualify these candidates was based on legal grounds.

Egyptians had been outraged by Suleiman’s decision to register as a candidate in the country’s first freely contested presidential election.

Suleiman is notorious for his role in the brutal repression of opposition groups during the rule of long-time dictator Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled in February 2011 in a popular revolution.

Egypt's presidential election is scheduled to be held over two days on May 23 and 24, while a run-off will be held from June 16 to 17, if necessary.