Former Mubarak spy chief shakes up Egypt vote race

Hosni Mubarak's former intelligence chief began the application process on Saturday to enter the presidential race, shaking up Egyptian politics as liberals and Islamists tried to decipher the motives of a man long viewed as the power behind his ousted boss.
Omar Suleiman, 74, said overwhelming popular demand prompted his decision to become a candidate in Egypt's first free presidential vote just before nominations close on Sunday. Like Mubarak, whose three-decade rule ended in February 2011 in a popular uprising, Suleiman has kept far from the public gaze during the past year of turbulent military rule.
Mubarak appointed Suleiman as his vice president in the dying days of his administration, one of several failed concessions to stem the revolt against poverty, corruption and draconian security control. To many of those who led the uprising, Suleiman's reappearance is proof that a powerful security establishment is determined to reverse a transition to democratic rule before the army hands power to a civilian president at the end of June.
Suleiman's shadowy persona and his call during the revolt for protesters to go home make him anathema to the young revolutionaries pressing for a new era of accountability and transparency. "The youth will not let Omar Suleiman become president. The revolution is still alive and we will march to Tahrir Square again if necessary," said Mohamed Fahmy, a revolutionary socialist who played a role in galvanising last year's protests.
"The very idea that he is running is presumptuous. He should be in prison," said democracy activist and commentator Nawara Negm. Activists have poked fun at Suleiman's candidacy, saying his campaign had adopted the slogan "You are all Khaled Said", a mock reference to the Facebook group whose page "We are all Khaled Said" helped kindle the uprising that ousted Mubarak.
The 28-year-old Said was alleged to have been beaten to death by police in Alexandria in 2010 for having posted an Internet video purportedly showing two policemen sharing the spoils of a drug bust. In a statement circulated by his campaign aides, Suleiman said public demand had persuaded him to run if he could obtain the necessary registration of 30,000 supporters by Saturday.