Egypt's parliament passed a bill on Thursday to impose a ten-year political isolation on senior former regime officials in an apparent attempt to ban some liberal candidates from running in the presidential race.

Those who were the president, vice president, prime minister and leaders of the now-disbanded National Democratic Party during the last ten years of ex-President Honsi Mubarak's rule, will be deprived of political rights in the next ten years, said the bill.

The political rights included voting or running in parliamentary or presidential elections, said the draft law, which was passed by the People's Assembly (the lower house of parliament) .

The draft was introduced by lawmaker Essam Sultan of the Islamist al-Wasat Party. The bill still needs the approval of the ruling military council.

A total of 23 candidates submitted their applications for the presidential race. The election commission will announce the final list on April 26.

The candidates included former deputy chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood Khairat al-Shater, Salafist Hazem Salah Abou Ismail, Freedom and Justice Party chairman Mohamed Morsi, former Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman , former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik and former Arab League chief Amr Moussa.