MOHAMED ElBaradei pulled out of the race for the Egyptian presidency yesterday, saying "the previous regime" was still running the country which has been governed by army generals since Hosni Mubarak was deposed.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner has been a vocal critic of the military council which has been governing Egypt since Mubarak was toppled in February. ElBaradei was head of the International Atomic Energy Agency from 1997 until 2009. In 2010, he returned to Egypt and began to speak out against Mubarak's rule.