Potential presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei called for a “clear roadmap” to civilian rule in Egypt, accusing all sides of having fallen short in the post-Hosni Mubarak era.

“What I ask of (the ruling military) Council is that it announce a clear roadmap, to have a clear vision for citizens and for investors,” the former UN nuclear watchdog chief told a news conference in Cairo.

“I believe everybody has failed to manage it, whether it be the Council, the government or the revolutionaries,” said Mr ElBaradei, referring to the transition since president Mt Mubarak’s ouster in February in the face of mass protests. Egypt has since been ruled by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which has named a caretaker government in the run-up to legislative elections starting on November 28. The military has said it will stand aside for a handover to civilian rule after a presidential poll, for which a date has yet to be set.

“We need a government of national salvation ... or that the current government have powers,” said Mr ElBaradei, while deploring the splintering of the anti-Mubarak camp.

“The revolutionaries are divided. There are 50 parties and many coalitions,” he said.

Mr ElBaradei also called for an independent probe of the October 9 clashes in Cairo between security forces and mainly Coptic Christian demonstrators that left 25 dead.

The probe should examine the role of state television which had also “incited” the violence, he said.

Ayman Nur, an opposition figure who challenged Mr Mubarak in a 2005 election, on Sunday lost an appeal to erase a five-year jail sentence passed on forgery charges that makes him ineligible to run for office.

Nur, a lawyer, was released early in 2009 on health grounds.