Mubarak deputy decides to run for Egypt president

FILE - In this Friday, Feb. 11, 2011 file photo taken from Egyptian television, Egypt's vice president Omar Suleiman makes the announcement that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has stepped down from office, in Cairo, Egypt. Egypt's former vice president appointed by Hosni Mubarak has changed his mind and says he will run in the upcoming presidential elections. Omar Suleiman issued a statement on Friday saying he reversed an earlier decision to stay out of the race after his supporters pleaded with him. The state MEAN news agency carried the statement.(AP Photo/Egypt TV, File) TV OUT - EGYPT OUT

FILE - In this Friday, Feb. 11, 2011 file photo taken from Egyptian television, Egypt's vice president Omar Suleiman makes the announcement that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has stepped down from office, in Cairo, Egypt. Egypt's former vice president appointed by Hosni Mubarak has changed his mind and says he will run in the upcoming presidential elections. Omar Suleiman issued a statement on Friday saying he reversed an earlier decision to stay out of the race after his supporters pleaded with him. The state MEAN news agency carried the statement.(AP Photo/Egypt TV, File) TV OUT - EGYPT OUT

FILE - In this Friday, Dec. 2, 2011 file photo, Egyptians hold posters supporting Omar Suleiman, Egypt's vice president in late January, during a rally in support of the ruling supreme council of the armed forces, SCAF, at Abbasiya Square, in Cairo, Egypt. Arabic read " We demand Suleiman to candidae for Presidency" , "dignity better than food", " Soleiman : Egypt in danger." Egypt's former vice president appointed by Hosni Mubarak has changed his mind and says he will run in the upcoming presidential elections. Omar Suleiman issued a statement on Friday saying he reversed an earlier decision to stay out of the race after his supporters pleaded with him. The state MEAN news agency carried the statement.(AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)

FILE - In this April 22, 2009, file photo Egypt's intelligence chief Omar Suleiman is in Jerusalem for a first high-level meeting between an Egyptian official and Israel's new hard-line government. Egypt's former vice president appointed by Hosni Mubarak has changed his mind and says he will run in the upcoming presidential elections. Omar Suleiman issued a statement on Friday saying he reversed an earlier decision to stay out of the race after his supporters pleaded with him. The state MEAN news agency carried the statement.(AP Photo/Tara Todras-Whitehill, File)

CAIRO (AP) ? A former strongman of ousted President Hosni Mubarak's regime announced Friday that he will enter Egypt's presidential race after supporters marched and pleaded for him to run.

Omar Suleiman's entry reversed an earlier decision and was likely to shake up an already heated race that pits former regime officials against Islamists for the country's top post.

It also was a blow to the hopes of the youth activists who spearheaded the popular uprising that toppled Mubarak last year but have been disappointed by the continued influence of members of his ex-regime and have been largely squeezed out of the race.

Suleiman, 75, was one of the most powerful figures of Mubarak's regime, running multiple secretive spy agencies. That makes him suspect in the eyes of many Egyptians, who had hoped to stamp out the old regime altogether.

But Suleiman's inside influence makes him a likely front-runner in the May 23-24 presidential election, with his main opponent likely to be Khairat el-Shater, candidate of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, which has already shown its electoral might by winning nearly half of parliament in elections late last year.

Suleiman, a former general who appeared on television to announce that Mubarak would step down on Feb. 11, 2011, said earlier this week that he had decided not to run. But he issued a statement Friday on the state-run MENA news agency saying he changed his mind after hundreds of supporters held a rally urging his candidacy.

"I can only meet the call and run in the presidential race, despite the constraints and difficulties I made clear in my former statement," he said.

The announcement by Suleiman, a longtime Mubarak ally who served as Egypt's intelligence chief for 18 years, also was a major setback for two other ex-regime officials who have announced plans to run for president: former foreign minister and ex-Arab League chief, Amr Moussa, and former prime minister and Mubarak confidant, Ahmed Shafiq.

All three are widely seen as symbols of the old regime but have support among some liberals and moderates who fear the Islamists' rising power.

Suleiman must now get 30,000 supporters to sign a petition before he can officially submit his application to run in time to meet the official filing deadline on Sunday. The vote is then set to take place end of May, with a possible run later. The announcement of who will lead the Arab world's most populous nation will be announced no later than end of June.

A win for Suleiman would largely keep control of Egypt in the hands of military, which took power after Mubarak's ouster last year.

Associated Press

diplo fergie one republic carlos santana michael dyer suspended new years ball drop new years rockin eve