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Egypt's ex-VP declares his candidacy

CAIRO, April 6 (UPI) -- Former Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman announced Friday he was entering the country's presidential race.

Suleiman, in a statement Wednesday, said he didn't feel the time was right to launch a bid for presidency. His supporters, however, said they would continue to rally for his candidacy.

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"He is a fighter, a military commander who should not leave his soldiers in the battle like that," Samel el-Ashy, director of the Revolutionary Front to Support Omar Suleiman's Presidency, told Egyptian news service al-Ahram.

"I cannot refuse people's will Suleiman was quoted by the Egyptian news service as saying, "Even though I said in my previous statement that I will face a lot of troubles and difficulties."

Suleiman, during last year's trial of former regime officials, suggested former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly was tied to police assaults on demonstrators during last year's revolution.

Former Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, former Foreign Minister Ahmed Shafiq and former Muslim Brotherhood financier Khairat al-Shater are among those who've announced candidacies for president.

Suleiman said he'd back out if he didn't collect the prerequisite 30,000 signatures backing his candidacy by the weekend, however.

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Presidential elections in Egypt are scheduled for May.

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