As soon as the Presidential Elections Commission (PEC) – the five-member judicial body overseeing Egypt's upcoming presidential poll — had set a date for the registration of candidates, Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, Egypt's former minister of defence, began to gather the 25,000 endorsements necessary to be eligible to stand. The endorsements must come from citizens in 15 governorates, with at least 1,000 signatures received from each governorate. As Al-Ahram Weekly went to press, the official spokesman for the Al-Sisi campaign said that thousands of people in more than 15 governorates (out of a total of 27) had rallied to endorse his presidential bid. Mahmoud Karim, a former ambassador and the Al-Sisi campaign coordinator, said as many as 40 offices had been opened throughout Egypt to take charge of collecting endorsements and promoting the Field-Marshal's presidential campaign. Deputy Minister of Justice for Public Notary Offices Omar Marwan, said that “by Tuesday evening as many as 30,000 endorsements had been given to both Al-Sisi and his main rival in the elections Hamdeen Sabahi.” Marwan refused to give exact figures, but said that Al-Sisi had the majority. He said that the registration process had opened on Monday at 350 public notary offices nationwide and would run until 20 April. Karim said that Al-Sisi's presidential campaign had been launched under the title of “Greetings to Egypt,” while an official website had been set up at www.sisi2014.net. Official pages had also been set up on Facebook and Twitter. Karim said that “some have seized on Al-Sisi's campaign in order to obtain cash donations from citizens, and these people will be prosecuted.” He denied allegations that the Al-Sisi campaign had collected the identity cards of citizens in different governorates in order to complete the required endorsement forms without the physical presence of the citizens concerned. “Any citizen wishing to endorse Al-Sisi or Sabahi must go in person to the notary office concerned to fill in the relevant endorsement form,” Karim said. It was a process that could not be undertaken by proxy. The Sabahi campaign had earlier accused Al-Sisi staffers of using force to collect the identity cards of citizens in Aswan, Damietta and other governorates, then using them to complete endorsement forms. As stipulated by the PEC, Al-Sisi paid a visit to a ministry of health-affiliated hospital on Tuesday to undergo a comprehensive medical check-up. Osama Al-Hadi, director of the ministry's Specialised Medical Councils (SMC), said that “four hospitals have been earmarked to examine the candidates, and four official committees, including around 40 doctors, have been formed to take charge of conducting the examinations.” PEC Secretary-General Hamdan Fahmi announced on Monday that the Al-Sisi campaign team had not been able to access an official registration form, adding that unlike in past polls candidates must meet a list of eight requirements before they are officially allowed to submit presidential bids and register with the PEC. “Topping this list is the requirement that they pay insurance of LE20,000, collect the required 25,000 notarised endorsements, and undergo a comprehensive medical check-up,” Fahmi said, adding that the candidates also had to provide a detailed statement of financial assets, a birth certificate, a university graduation certificate, and open a deposit account with either the National Bank of Egypt or Misr Bank to receive campaign donations. Fahmi indicated that the commission had approved Al-Sisi's registration on the electoral roll on 28 March, after Al-Sisi had resigned from his posts as army chief and minister of defence on 26 March. Lieutenant-General Sobhi Sedki, former chief of military staff, was appointed the new minister of defence on 27 March. According to Article 234 of the new constitution, the minister of defence is appointed on the approval of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), a provision that is in force for two presidential terms (eight years) only. Fahmi indicated that “in its review, the PEC approved Al-Sisi and other former military and police officials who have reached the retirement age registering their names on the electoral roll, in line with the 1956 law on the exercise of political rights.” Fahmi did not indicate how many former army and police officials had registered. According to Al-Sisi's national identity card, his full name is Abdel-Fattah Said Hussein Khalil Al-Sisi, his address has changed from Nasr City to Heliopolis in eastern Cairo, and his job is former minister of defence. The card shows that he, like Sabahi, is 60 years old and that his date of birth is 19 November 1954. “This was only 24 days after the Muslim Brotherhood tried to assassinate the late president Gamal Abdel-Nasser while he was delivering a speech in Alexandria's Manshiya Square on 26 October, 1954,” the journalist and historian Salah Eissa told the Weekly. “I think history is repeating itself, as many view Al-Sisi as another Nasser, fighting a ferocious battle against the Muslim Brotherhood.” “But while Nasser seized the assassination attempt as a way of crushing the group and tightening his grip on power, Al-Sisi still faces assassination threats after he joined millions of Egyptians in removing the group's affiliated president Mohamed Morsi on 3 July, 2013.” Eissa said that “while the challenges facing Nasser in 1954 were formidable in both political and economic terms, they were far less tough than those standing in Al-Sisi's way today. If elected, Al-Sisi will find himself face to face with a seriously battered economy, a severely divided nation, and a highly unruly population,” he added. In a televised speech on 26 March, while wearing military uniform for the last time, Al-Sisi said that he had decided to step down from the armed forces in order to make his presidential bid. He said that although it would be difficult for him to hold public rallies because of security concerns, he was keen to prepare an election platform that would attract all Egyptians. Al-Sisi has already formed a team responsible for his election campaign. This team, led by Amr Moussa, Egypt's former foreign minister and chairman of the 50-Member Committee that drafted the new constitution last December, includes Al-Ahram political analyst Amr Al-Chobaki, Cairo University professor and former coordinator of the Kifaya Movement Abdel-Gelil Mostafa, presidential media advisor Mustafa Hegazi, film director Khaled Youssef, and founder of the Tamaroud (Rebel) Movement Mahmoud Badr. Former ambassador Mahmoud Karim has been appointed the Al-Sisi campaign's general coordinator. Al-Chobaki told the Weekly that “while Moussa's role is confined to giving advice, most of the staff responsible for directing his presidential campaign in 2012 have also been selected for the Al-Sisi campaign.” They include Moussa's 2012 campaign spokeswoman Yara Khalaf, media consultant Ahmed Kamel, and ambassador Mahmoud Karim. Al-Chobaki said that “because of security concerns and Muslim Brotherhood threats, Al-Sisi will not be able to hold public meetings. As far as I know, he will focus on holding limited events with representatives of trade unions, farmers, and professional syndicates and also doing television and press interviews. At a later stage there could be a televised debate with Nasserist candidate Hamdeen Sabahi.” No sooner had Al-Sisi announced his decision to contest the upcoming presidential elections than many political forces rallied to announce their support for him. Shaaban Abdel-Alim, a leading official in the ultraconservative Salafist Nour Party, said that “the party supports Al-Sisi, but our official announcement on this will come only after the door of registration is closed and Al-Sisi's platform is announced.” “We think Al-Sisi's decision to step down and run in the presidential poll as a civilian candidate is a good step that is in line with the new constitution. But we still have to wait to see how his election platform intends to respect freedoms, democracy and social justice,” Abdel-Alim said. Al-Sisi has forged good relations with the Nour Party since the ouster of former Islamist president Mohammed Morsi last July, and he was keen to hold meetings with Nour officials when he was minister of defence. In a statement on Saturday, the leftist Tagammu Party also announced its support for Al-Sisi. Rifaat Al-Said, the Tagammu's honorary chairman and a foe of the Muslim Brotherhood, said that “the Party appreciates the role played by Al-Sisi in ridding Egypt of the regime of the Muslim Brotherhood, and as a result we will put all our resources into supporting his presidential campaign even without the need for him to announce an election platform.” Chairman of the Wafd Party Al-Sayed Al-Badawi said that the Wafd was supportive of Al-Sisi. “But the Wafd's political bureau will need to meet before it makes a public announcement on this issue,” Al-Badawi said. Essam Shisha, a Wafdist lawyer, told the Weekly that “the liberal Wafd Party cannot give its support to a Nasserist candidate like Sabahi, but at the same time we hope that Al-Sisi's platform will reflect liberal positions in political and economic terms.” Other political factions, mostly diehards of former president Hosni Mubarak's defunct National Democratic Party (NDP), also rallied to support Al-Sisi, vowing to collect millions of signatures supporting him. One of these parties, Misr Baladi (My Homeland Egypt), led by former interior minister Ahmed Gamaleddin, said that “we greatly support Al-Sisi, hoping to see him implement the ideals of the 30 June Revolution and move the country forward.”
