World Bulletin / News Desk

The Egyptian authorities have banned members of the Muslim Brotherhood from putting forward their candidacy for the upcoming presidential elections.

The Muslim Brotherhood had previously been labelled as a 'terrorist' organization by the post-coup interim government, which has blamed the movement for a number of attacks on Egyptian security forces.

Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's first elected president who came to power in 2012 only to be taken down by a military coup on July 3, 2013, was also a member of the organization.

The Muslim Brotherhood has been persecuted by the military-backed authorities since along with other groups opposing the coup.

Coup mastermind Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi is now the favorite to win the elections after he resigned as Defence Minister and declared his candidacy.

Left-wing Liberalist Hamdeen Sabahi is seen as Sisi's biggest rival in the upcoming polls, although he is yet to submit his candidacy papers.