Arab media reports former Egyptian vice president Omar Suleiman has decided to run for president. Suleiman served as director of General Intelligence Services during the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak.

He agreed last week to announced his candidacy, sources told Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm. Elections are slated for 23 and 24 May.

The decision was reached in response to growing support for the move, sources said, and after senior officials in the political system pressured him to join the race.

The electoral program planned by the new candidate allegedly will “meet the needs of people at home and abroad, and includes certain constitutional and legislative reforms as a priority,” according to the report, which cited plans to achieve social justice, sets minimum and maximum wages and “encourages a free economy.”

Suleimana was appointed vice president by Mubarak in the final days of his regime, as the Egyptian Revolution ignited by the Arab Spring uprisinsg was getting underway. The tidal wave of the revolution that began in Cairo´s Tahrir Square and swept through the nation ultimately toppled Mubarak´s government, leading to a new parliament controlled by the once-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. (IsraelNationalNews © 2012 03/23/12)