(AP) Maggie Michael - Egypt's election commission confirmed Thursday that the mother of popular Salafi Islamist presidential hopeful Hazem Abu Ismail, 50, was an American citizen, effectively disqualifying him from the race and likely boosting the chances of Muslim Brotherhood candidate Khairat al-Shater. The law stipulates that a candidate may not have any other citizenship than Egyptian - and that the candidate's spouse and parents cannot have other citizenships as well. While Abu Ismail is likely to fight for a way to stay in the race, his disqualification would remove the Brotherhood's main competitor for the powerful Islamist vote.
2012-04-06 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive