Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohamed El-Baradei said he would not run for the coming Egyptian presidential elections, the Egyptian official news agency reported Saturday.
"I decided not to run for the presidency," El-Baradei was quoted as saying in a statement, adding that "my decision is not to withdraw from the political arena, but to continue in serving the nation more effectively, free from the power's obstacles", Xinhua reported.
Comparing Egypt's anti-government protests last year to "a boat moving in rough waves," El-Baradei said that "its captains, who took charge without our choice, are still using the old methods, as if the revolution did not take place, or no regime was toppled. "
He condemned the "repressive" policies of Egypt's current military rulers, saying that the transition period witnessed the absence of security and poor management of economy without steps to purify the state institutions.
El-Baradei, also the former chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, established a movement named the National Association for Change after the Egyptian unrest.
Egypt is expected to elect a new president by June 2012, according to the timetable set by the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. There are more than 10 presidential nominees, including former foreign minister and former Arab League chief Amr Mahmoud Moussa.