Sisi and Sabahi Vie for Egyptian Presidency

Photo Credit: BBC

On the final day of registration, former army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi and leftist politician and head of the Popular Current alliance Hamdeen Sabahi, submitted their papers to run for ’s presidential election next month. Election commission spokesman Abdel-Aziz Salman said el-Sisi garnered 188,930 signatures and is “riding a wave of popular support and is the clear front-runner in this year’s vote.” On the other hand, Sabahi who came in third in the 2012 elections after receiving around 5 million votes largely appeals to “Egypt’s secular youth and working class.” Salman said Sabahi submitted 31,555 signatures. Additionally, Sabahi has claimed that “intimidation tactics” were used during the signature collection period and that there has been “bias by state officials in favor of el-Sisi.” Sabahi’s staff “blamed officials with links to former autocrat .” , another liberal politician and 2005 presidential candidate who opposed Sisi, said he had “appealed to Sabahi to withdraw” to “avoid providing what they say would be a democratic facade to el-Sisi’s likely victory.” This election cycle, there will be no Islamist candidate, contrary to the “hotly contested 2012 presidential race” which featured more than “a dozen rivals from across the political spectrum.” Reuters reports that many Islamists “have been driven underground” and view Sisi as the “mastermind of a coup.” Thousands of Islamists have been jailed and the Muslim Brotherhood has been declared a “terrorist organization.” In addition, many secular activists have been “rounded up.” Human rights groups, according to BBC say the military- backed authorities have displayed “increasing hostility to independent media and to political opponents.” The presidential campaign officially begins on May 2, when the election commission will announce a final list of candidates. The presidential election will be followed by parliamentary vote.

In other news, gunmen killed a police captain Ashraf Badeer al-Qazaz and a conscript from the central security force in a firefight outside of . The killing is the second attack in the last several days that has targeted Egypt’s security services.