It has been a dramatic few weeks [1] in Egyptian politics. On April 6, 2012, Omar Suleiman, Egypt's former vice president and intelligence chief, announced his candidacy [2] for president. Omar Suleiman is considered by many Egyptians to be part of the counter-revolution, one of the “remnants”, or unreformed loyalists of the former regime.
On April 13, tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Tahrir Square [3] to protest against Suleiman's presidential campaign. Then, in a surprising turn of events, on April 14 it was announced that Suleiman was one of ten candidates [4] barred from standing in the elections, apparently because he failed to get enough signatures to endorse his candidacy.
On April 12 blogger Raafat Rohaiem attacked Suleiman:
On April 14 Maikel Nabil Sanad [7], a prominent blogger and activist, wrote [8] in a blog post entitled “Against Omar Suleiman”:
Suleiman has made an appeal to those (including Egypt's Christians) who are concerned that the Muslim Brotherhood is seeking to push through a conservative Islamic agenda [12] in the country, and argues [13] that he would stop Egypt becoming a “religious state”. Indeed, there are those who feel he would do a good job. Timmy tweeted:
@tamerhegab [14]: To be honest, I don't mind Omar Soliman being president. The country will be up and running in 4 years; the Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood] will have gone. Perfect.
However, Mena Makram tweeted:
On April 7, just after Suleiman announced his candidacy, political cartoonist Carlos Latuff published this image [16] of him rising from the “trash bin of history”:
After the news of Suleiman's disqualification, artist Hazem Arafa made some changes [17]:
Maha Abouelenein believes that there is still hope for Suleiman:
@mahagaber [18]: The only candidate that can modify his paperwork to qualify is Omar Soliman – he has 48 hours [19] to get remaining tawkeels [endorsements]
Suleiman's campaign has announced [20] that all legal measures will be taken to challenge the election committee’s decision.