Presidential hopeful Ayman Nour submitted his candidacy papers to the Presidential Elections Commission on Friday amid a rally of supporters.
Nour headed to the commission headquarters with dozens of supporters from across Egypt marching from Al-Azhar mosque.
“I’ve decided to submit my papers on 6 April to coincide with the anniversary with the Egyptian uprising in Mahalla al-Kubra city in 2008, which is considered a precursor to the 25 January revolution,” Nour said.
State-run news service MENA quoted Nour as saying that he and presidential hopeful Hamdeen Sabbahi are the only ones who can lead Egypt during this critical period.
Nour arrived at the commission’s headquarters shortly after Sabbahi left while the latter’s supporters were still present. Sabbahi’s supporters chanted slogan “Nour and Sabbahi are one hand.”
Nour is running as the nominee for the Ghad al-Thawra Party, which he chairs.
Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, recently restored Nour’s full political rights, which had been suspended as the result of a forgery conviction in 2005.
Nour came second in the 2005 election, Egypt's first multi-candidate race for the presidency, after former President Hosni Mubarak.
After Nour was granted amnesty, the supreme body of Ghad al-Thawra Party held a meeting during which they unanimously elected Nour as the party’s presidential candidate.
Ghad al-Thawra won two seats in the People's Assembly for the Democratic Alliance headed by the Freedom and Justice Party.
