CAIRO // Three of Egypt's most prominent and polarising presidential candidates were rushing yesterday to appeal against a surprise decision to disqualify them from the race.
If the decision by the Supreme Presidential Election Commission (Spec) on Saturday night holds, it would significantly change the political landscape a little more than a month before Egyptians go to the polls.
Among 10 candidates barred from the race were three front-runners: Khairat Al Shater, the former deputy leader of the Muslim Brotherhood; Omar Suleiman, Hosni Mubarak's intelligence chief and vice president; and Hazem Abu Ismail, a Salafist lawyer turned preacher. They have until today to appeal.
Mr Al Shater, who submitted his campaign paperwork in the final days of the registration period, was disqualified because of a criminal conviction for money laundering.
He has claimed the charges were a political tool of the Mubarak regime to suppress dissent and that he was officially pardoned by Scaf, the group of generals who took control after Mubarak resigned last year.
Escalating the rhetoric over the battle for power in Egypt, Mr Al Shater said yesterday: "We are ready and willing to pay an even greater price for liberation of this homeland and to combat and prevent gangs of old-guard cronies from replicating the corrupt system of governance."
Candidates had three options for registering: 30,000 signatories from across the country with at least 1,000 from 15 different provinces, nomination from a political party in parliament, or signatures of 30 members of parliament.
Mr Suleiman's paperwork did not meet the numerical requirement in one province, the commission ruled. His team gathered 49,000 signatures in 15 provinces, but the commission said he had 1,000 votes too few in one province.
Mr Abu Ismail was barred because his mother, now deceased, had obtained US citizenship, which contravenes laws requiring both parents of a presidential candidate to be Egyptian. If the disqualifications are not overturned, voters will have 13 candidates to choose from. On April 26, the full list of candidates will be revealed by the election commission.
The sudden turn of events provided a boost to the campaigns of Amr Moussa, the former foreign minister; Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, the moderate Islamist scholar; and Mohamed Morsy, the backup candidate for the Muslim Brotherhood and chairman of its Freedom and Justice Party.
"If the appeals are unsuccessful, these three men stand a chance in the elections," said H A Hellyer, an independent analyst in Cairo. "My estimate is that Amr Moussa would become the front-runner because of his name recognition. Morsi has the grassroots organisational support of the Muslim Brotherhood, but Aboul Fotouh's network is growing, which may result in splitting a portion of votes away from Morsi and maybe Moussa."
Mr Moussa was the leading candidate even after Mr Al Shater and Mr Suleiman announced their candidacies, according to a poll of 1,200 Egyptians between March 31 and April 3 conducted by Al Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies. Of respondents who had already made up their minds about whom to vote for, 30.7 per cent chose Mr Moussa.
But the final vote is anything but decided, said Dalia Mogahed, the executive director of the Gallup Centre for Muslim Studies in Washington, DC. As much as half of the population is still undecided and voters consider economic development and job creation more important than ideology, according to the centre's polls.
"When you have such a large group of people who haven't made up their minds, they are going to be much more susceptible to last-minute decision-making," she said. "The majority of people, more than 90 per cent, want to take part in this historic event, but you will see some unexpected dynamics up to and on the day of the elections."
Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi met the heads of political parties yesterday to discuss the political developments.
The election disqualifications are the latest tangle in the transition of power from Scaf to a civilian government.
A committee to rewrite the constitution was suspended last week by an administrative court, which is examining whether the parliament's process for choosing the 100 members was legal.
The committee had already been paralysed after more than 20 members refused to take part because of what they called the attempt by Islamist political groups to pack the committee with its own members and people sympathetic to their views.
Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel laureate who was a contender for the presidency before bowing out in January, described the situation yesterday on his Twitter page as a "botched transition: vacillating between revolutionary and constitutional legitimacy".
"Meaningful dialogue [is] key to avoid increasing chaos and violence," he wrote.
bhope@thenational.ae
Follow
The National
on
@TheNationalUAE
& Bradley Hope on
@bradleyhope
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
SEMI-FINAL
Monterrey 1
Funes Mori (14)
Liverpool 2
Keita (11), Firmino (90 1)
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
The biog
Nickname: Mama Nadia to children, staff and parents
Education: Bachelors degree in English Literature with Social work from UAE University
As a child: Kept sweets on the window sill for workers, set aside money to pay for education of needy families
Holidays: Spends most of her days off at Senses often with her family who describe the centre as part of their life too
