TIL Desk/World/Cairo/President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has submitted his nomination documents to Egypt’s election commission, a day after a potentially serious challenger was arrested over criminal allegations, including forgery and incitement against the country’s military.
El-Sissi, who is virtually certain to win March 26-28 vote, did not submit the documents in person, leaving a representative to do that. Images posted on the president’s official Facebook page showed workers taking out of the back of a van boxes bearing the president’s image and the phrase “long live Egypt!” el- Sissi’s trademark slogan.
The boxes contained “recommendations” from voters who want el-Sissi to run for a second, four-year term. Under the constitution, would-be candidates must obtain 25,000 recommendations from voters or secure the support of 20 elected lawmakers to qualify to run. Already more than 500 of parliament’s 596 lawmakers have declared their support for el-Sissi.
The military yesterday arrested former chief of staff and presidential hopeful Sami Annan over a slate of serious allegations. The arrest all but ended the presidential ambitions of the ex-general, who became the latest in a series of potential contenders who have dropped out or been driven from the presidential campaign.
