Backed by over 1.1 million endorsements, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi submitted on Saturday his candidacy papers for the Egyptian National Election Authority (ENA) to stand for a third term in December’s presidential elections, his presidential campaign announced.
Mahmoud Fawzy, head of El-Sisi’s presidential campaign, said 1,131,105 endorsements were received from citizens nationwide and 424 from MPs.
The figures are seen by the campaign as “a strong” show of support for El-Sisi's re-election bid, Fawzy stressed in a press conference in Cairo.
El-Sisi – whose current term ends in April – confirmed his candidacy for a new term in office on Monday and underwent the medical exam required to run for president earlier today.
Fawzy assured “a complete separation” between the activities of El-Sisi as Egypt’s incumbent president and as a presidential candidate, saying: “There will be no overlap at all levels.”
The NEA will examine and count El-Sisi’s support forms to determine whether he meets the requirements to run for president, the authority said in a statement on Saturday afternoon.
Potential candidates must secure endorsements from at least 20 MPs or 25,000 citizens from at least 15 governorates, with a minimum of 1,000 endorsements from each governorate.
Public notary offices nationwide have been receiving citizens seeking to issue endorsements for potential candidates since 25 September and will continue doing so through 14 October.
The NEA will announce the tally of endorsements submitted to the authority and an initial list of those individuals who qualified to become candidates on 16 October.
The election authority will accept appeals against its disqualification decisions on 17-18 October and rule on them between 19 and 21 October. The authority will announce the reason for any disqualifications on 22 October.
The final list of qualified candidates will be released on 9 November.
Source: Al-Ahram Online
