ElBaradei says not to run for Egypt presidency.

Ex-UN nuclear watchdog chief and Nobel peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei ended his candidacy for Egypt's presidency Saturday, saying he could not run because there is still no real democracy there.

"My conscience does not allow me to run for the presidency or any other official position unless there is real democracy," ElBaradei said in a statement received by AFP.

He said there was no room for him in Egyptian politics because old symbols of the regime were still running the country, and charged that preparations to draw a new constitution were "botched."

"I have examined the best ways of serving the goals of the revolution and I found that there is no official post for me, not even the presidency.

"Preparations are being made to elect a president before the establishment of a constitution that would organise relations among the (judicial, executive and legislative) powers and protect liberties," he said.

He praised the revolutionary youths who led massive popular uprisings that ousted president Hosni Mubarak last year, but said "the former regime did not fall."