The Egyptian Higher Presidential Election Commission (HPEC) on Thursday announced the final list of 13 candidates to run for the presidential election set on May 23, including former Arab League (AL) Chief Amr Moussa and ex-Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq.

Each of the 13 candidates cannot allocate more than 10 million Egyptian pounds (about 1.65 million U.S. dollars) for his first round of electoral campaign, HPEC chief Farouk Sultan said in a press conference.

"We feared nothing but God in all our decisions," said Sultan. "The criticism and accusations against the commission only aimed to get citizens into mess ... We adhered to integrity and impartiality."

The commission will refer all violations committed by disqualified candidates to the attorney general, Sultan added.

The list includes former Muslim Brotherhood (MB) member Abdul Moneim Abul Fotouh and Mohamed Morsi, head of MB's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP). The two strong Islamists are now subjects of serious debate among conservative Muslim voters. Islamists still do not agree on whom they should support, raising the possibility of a split in their votes.

Among most hopeful non-Islamist candidates are Amr Moussa and Ahmed Shafiq. The HPEC allowed the latter back into poll in a surprising decision only one day after it disqualified him.

The 13 candidates are supposed to start their electoral campaigns on April 30, about three weeks before the vote scheduled for May 23-24, with a run-off on June 16-17. A power transfer to the first elected post-Mubarak president is due by the end of June.