HELIOPOLIS, Egypt, April 20 (UPI) -- An Islamist presidential candidate Friday urged supporters to continue protesting his exclusion from the upcoming Egyptian elections.
Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, one of 10 candidates ruled ineligible for the May elections by the Egyptian Presidential Elections Commission, issued a statement Friday to supporters staging a sit-in at the commission's office in Heliopolis.
"Your presence at the commission achieves great results every hour you spend in sitting-in," Abu Ismail said in the statement.
The statement said the protesters weren't so much speaking up for him personally as they were trying to head off a resurrection of former President Hosni Mubarak's regime, Al-Masry, Al-Youm said.
The sit-in took place on the same day thousands of protesters gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square to protest the exclusions of Abu Ismail and the other candidates.
Bikyamasr.com said the commission Friday issued a statement rejecting any political motivation for blocking the 10 candidates. The commission said its deliberations had been neutral and were based on clear violations of established elections laws.
The commission said Abu Ismail was rejected because it had confirmed that his mother had obtained citizenship in the United States.
