Egypt unveils long-waited presidential election law

Egypt's interim President Adli Mansour has approved and issued a long-waited new law regulating the country's upcoming presidential election, officials said Saturday.

The law, consisting of 60 articles in seven chapters, requires that presidential candidates must be Egyptian and born to Egyptian parents. Neither the candidate nor any of his or her parents or spouse must have nationalities of any other state.

"This step paves the way for the second phase of the future roadmap," Xinhua quoted Ali Awad, Mansour's legal and constitutional adviser, as saying.

But politicians and activists have been criticising article seven which makes decisions of the Supreme Election Commission immune against judicial appeal. Some described it as " disfigurement of democracy".

After approval of the law, Egyptians are waiting for military chief and Defence Minister Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi to officially announce his presidential bid, as the law was previously seen as the only reason for his delay.

Sisi enjoys a massive popularity since the ouster of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in last July. A lot of voices have been calling on him to join the presidential race.

Despite the calls, Sisi neither confirmed nor denied the intention to run for president until he said a few days ago that "he cannot turn his back on the majority of Egyptians". That signals his intended presidential bid based on a public demand.

So far leftist leader and ex-presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahy is the only one to have officially announced his intention to run for president.