Ayman Nour, head of liberal Ghad Al Thawra Party, declared on Tuesday in a press release that the party will not endorse a pro- revolution presidential candidate, implying that the party may support Amr Moussa or Ahmed Shafiq who both served under ousted president Hosni Mubarak.

The press release stated that the party may endorse a non revolutionary candidate in the next presidential elections, explaining that the upcoming president "should pursue real political pluralism which is one of the main objectives of the revolution."

Nour stated that "party will not endorse a Muslim Brotherhood candidate or a semi Brotherhood candidate in the next presidential elections because the Brotherhood have enough control of both chamber of parliament and forming the government".

Nour had previously mounted a serious challenge to Mubarak, running for president in 2005 and coming second. He was however banned from politics since being convicted of forging signatures to secure the formation of the liberal Al-Ghad Party in the same year.

Egyptian law bans any candidates with a criminal record from running for president for five years following the completion of a prison term. The military council gave him an official pardon in March and he announced that he would be running for the presidency. He was however declared ineligible to run on 14 April.