Pakistan, July 8 -- Egypt's parliament has approved amendments that allow serving or retired military personnel to run in presidential and parliamentary elections only with military permission.

The new legislation comes a year after parliament passed a constitutional amendment that paved the way for the former army chief and current President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to stay in power until 2030.

The amendments are expected to make it almost impossible for military personnel to run in any election, in effect preventing anyone from squaring off against Sisi.

Since it became a modern republic, all but two of Egypt's presidents have hailed from a military background.

Sisi, the former general-turned-president, led the army's overthrow of elect...