DHAKA: Egypt’s interim president has signed into law a bill aimed at regulating the upcoming presidential election, paving the way for army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to take part and win.

Adly Mansour, the interim president, issued the decree on Saturday with the elections commission expected to schedule the election for April.

‘The president has issued a republican decree that regulates the presidential elections, allowing the electoral commission to start taking the necessary measures to hold the vote,’ Mansour’s legal and constitutional affairs adviser, Ali Awwad, told state television, reports Al Jazeera.

The decree also makes decisions of the commission immune to legal challenge, Awwad added; a contentious issue which had divided two of Egypt’s top courts.

The controversial legislation stipulates that candidates should not be younger than 40 years old, and that they should collect more than 25,000 endorsements in at least 15 of the country’s 27 provinces.

BDST: 2113 HRS, MAR 08, 2014