Cairo investigates VP's presidential bid

CAIRO, April 17 (UPI) -- Former Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman used his intelligence connections to generate support for a presidential bid, an Egyptian lawmaker said.

Suleiman, in an April 6 statement, said he couldn't "refuse people's will" and decided to enter the Egyptian presidential race.

During the weekend, Suleiman, along with the Muslim Brotherhood's Khairat al-Shater and Salafist leader Hazem Salah Abu-Ismail, were disqualified from competing in the May election.

The presidential election commission requires candidates to secure recommendations from 30,000 voters or 30 elected lawmakers to run. Mohamed Ashmawy, an Egyptian member of Parliament, said Suleiman, a former intelligence chief, "used both the security and intelligence apparatuses to pressure citizens and their relatives (to make the recommendations)," Egyptian news service al-Ahram reports.

Veteran Egyptian diplomat and former Foreign Minister Amr Moussa is said to be one of the leading presidential candidates in elections scheduled for May.

The Muslim Brotherhood last week organized a demonstration to protest the political ambitions of former regime officials.