Amr Moussa joins presidential race

Former Arab League chief, Amr Moussa, handed to the High Electoral Commission late Friday the required number of recommendation forms and documents to enter Egypt's presidential race. According to his campaign manager, Moussa has obtained 45,000 recommendations from 20 different governorates, although he was only required to garner 30,000. Moussa is the first independent potential candidate to hand in the required documentation.  Others who are officially in the race representating their party, were not  subject to the requirement that an independent candidate, like Moussa, must garner 30,000 recommendations from citizens along with a CV confirming each person's identity. On the other hand. party-based candidates, only require that their party’s official recommendation be certified by the Political Parties Committee together with a certificate from the People’s Assembly or Shura Council (lower and upper house of parliament). Another independent candidate, the Salafist Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, declared that he has also garnered the necessary recommendations and documents; however, he has yet to submit them to the High Electoral Commission. The formal registration process for presidential candidates started March 10 and closes on April 8. The presidential election will be held on May 23 and 24 2012. If no candidate garners more than half the votes in the first round, the top two candidates will face one another in a run-off on June 16 and 17. Amr Moussa was Arab League secretary general between 2001 and 2011. He was also Egypt's foreign minister under Hosni Mubarak  from 1991-2001.