Two presidential candidates in Egypt's upcoming elections have withdrawn from the race.

Nawal el Saadawi withdrew her candidacy a few  days a go, though I doubt that she would get much votes, being on the fringe as far as most Egyptians are concerned.

A few days later, Saad Eddin Ibrahim also withdrew from the elections, and also said he is boycotting the election, calling it a "farcical electoral process". He said that some people outside have been deceived by the recent cosmetic and token changes, and that the new election laws effectively prevents independant candidates from running.

The leftist Tagammu part also called for boycotting the elections.

This leaves only Ayman Nour head of Tomorrow Party, in the race, and he does not seem to have a lot of support either.

At least there is a new precedent in the region, and one long time president, Ali Abdullah Saleh has decided not to run for another term.