CAIRO: Egypt’s interim president has issued a much anticipated decree that governs upcoming presidential election, clearing the way for the vote that many expect the country’s military chief to take part in and win.

Legal adviser Ali Awad said Saturday on state television that interim President Adly Mansour issued the decree. The elections commission will set a date for the vote, expected to be in April.

Mansour decreed that the decisions of the elections commission be protected from legal challenges, a contentious issue on which two of Egypt’s top courts had staked opposing positions.

The law is passed after a transition plan laid out in July after the army ousted President Muhammad Mursi. Military chief Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah El-Sissi is widely expected to declare his candidacy soon, and, if he runs, is forecast to win.

Separately, An explosion of a suspected homemade bomb targeting a tram station in eastern Cairo wounded at least one person on Saturday, Egyptian security officials said.

Since the military ousted Mursi, militants have stepped up attacks against the security forces in Egypt, killing many soldiers and policemen.

However, attacks on civilian targets have been rare. Another homemade bomb was defused at the same station, the security officials said.

In February, a bomb that struck a bus carrying tourists near the Taba border crossing in South Sinai killed three people, including three South Koreans.

The Al-Qaeda-inspired Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis claimed the attack.

It has also claimed responsibility for high-profile attacks including a car bombing at a police headquarters in Cairo and the shooting down of a military helicopter in the Sinai Peninsula.