As Al-Ahram Weekly went to press the official spokesman of Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi's campaign said 250,000 citizens from across 26 governorates (out of a total 27) had endorsed his presidential bid, ten times more than the 25,000 signatures hopeful candidates are required to collect. “We were able in three days to collect the required endorsements in 26 governorates. Results from Egypt's 27th governorate, North Sinai, have yet to be announced because the public notary office is operated manually,” said. Abdallah Al-Moghazi, one of Al-Sisi's spokesmen. “A legal committee has now been formed to review the endorsements to ensure that the campaign has not gathered any duplicated signatures. Once this review is over Al-Sisi will be able to submit the final candidacy bid — a move that is expected by the end of this week or early next.” Several groups participated in collecting endorsements for Al-Sisi. The Tamarod movement, which spearheaded the removal of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi , said it had collected 16,000 endorsements for Al-Sisi. The General Syndicate of Farmers said they had gathered 25,000 signatures, the Independence Current, including a number of independent figures and representatives of a dozen of low-key political parties, said they were able to collect 32,000. Other political factions, mostly comprising diehards of former president Hosni Mubarak's defunct National Democratic Party (NDP), also rallied to support the Al-Sisi campaign. They claimed to have collected 14,000 endorsements. The families of both Gamal Abdel-Nasser and Anwar Al-Sadat have announced their support for Al-Sisi's presidential bid. Even ousted president Hosni Mubarak was quoted by the weekly Al-Masry Al-Youm as saying that he supports Al-Sisi though Mubarak's lawyer Farid Al-Deeb denies his client has made any statement about Al-Sisi's candidacy. Amr Al-Chobaki, a member of Al-Sisi's team and an Al-Ahram political analyst, said “the fact that Al-Sisi was able to get more than 200,000 signatures in one week and more than 250,000 in almost ten days shows that the former defence minister enjoys substantial popularity”. Abdel-Azim Ashri, Deputy Justice Minister for Public Notary Affairs, said by Tuesday as many as 350,000 endorsements had been registered since 31 March, with Al-Sisi accounting for 92 per cent of the total. The door for registration remains open until 20 April. A recent opinion poll, however, reports that 39 per cent of voters said they would cast their ballot for Al-Sisi, down from 51 per cent reported in mid-March. The poll, conducted by the Egyptian Centre for Public Opinion Research (Baseera), suggested that “support for Al-Sisi's presidency has fallen” says Al-Chobaki, “though the number of endorsements suggests the opposite”. “The people who are working on Al-Sisi's platform and who are in regular contact with Al-Sisi are prominent journalist Mohamed Hassanein Heikal and former foreign minister Amr Moussa,” Al-Chobaki added. “Al-Sisi's electoral platform will reflect his vision for the future of Egypt. It is particularly important since because of security concerns Al-Sisi will not be able to hold public rallies or make tours ,”says Al-Moghazi. Al-Moghazi and Al-Chobaki agree Al-Sisi's electoral platform should not restrict to dealing with everyday life issues related to education, health and infrastructure, but must encompass his vision for Egypt's future foreign relations, especially with the United States, and explain his strategy on fighting terrorism and restoring stability. Heikal, a confidant of late president Gamal Abdel-Nasser, told the private television channel CBC on 3 April that Al-Sisi did not need an electoral programme. “All he needs is to present himself to the people as the man who can overcome Egypt's current crisis,” insisted the veteran commentator. At the end of the week Hamdeen Sabahi announced that he has secured the necessary 25,000 endorsements. On Monday he received official medical certification that he was fit to run. Emad Gad, a political analyst with Al-Ahram, noted that “while support for Al-Sisi comes from large population sectors such as farmers, workers and women, Sabahi largely draws on the support of youth movements which refrained from participating in the referendum on Egypt's new constitution last January”. “These movements, especially after three of high-profile leaders were this week sentenced to three years in jail, still insist that the election of Al-Sisi will bring the country back to a military rule.” Al-Chobaki believes that fears about the return of a military rule are over-exaggerated. “I think that since the 30 June uprising against Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, we haven't seen any kind of direct military rule in Egypt,” he says. Al-Chobaki accused the Western media of distorting facts by portraying post-30 June Egypt as the plaything of the military. Gad notes that many Nasserists for whom Sabahi claims to speak have announced their support for Al-Sisi and farmers and workers, who form the core of the Nasserist ideology, also recommend Al-Sisi for the presidency. “I hope that Sabahi will readjust his campaign to shed more focus on vital social groups like farmers and workers so that we see a really competitive battle,” said Gad. Sabahi's campaign platform, says his election spokesman, will focus on implementing five basic demands of 25 January and 30 June Revolutions: achieving social justice; democratic rule and liberal freedoms; boosting the country's food production; separating religion from politics, and realising national independence, mainly by phasing out Egypt's dependency on America. Sabahi is scheduled to meet next week with representatives of trade unions, intellectuals and businessmen. “The business community has misgivings that as a Nasserist Sabahi will take the country back to nationalisation policies and we have to contain their fears on this issue,” said Sabahi's spokesman. He also denied allegations that the Muslim Brotherhood had announced its support for Sabahi. In a surprise move Mortada Mansour, the flamboyant lawyer who was elected chairman of Al-Zamalek Sporting Club last week, announced he would contest the presidential poll. Mansour, who was acquitted of charges of taking part in organising the notorious Battle of the Camel, announced that he would change Egypt's new constitution. “This charter has turned the president of the republic from a dictator into an honorary post holder,” claimed Mansour. He added that “the 1979 peace treaty and Camp David accords have stripped Egypt of the ability to clear Sinai of terrorism and impose complete control on the peninsula”. Mansour sharply attacked Qatari-based Al-Jazeera, insisting “it has become the main media mouthpiece for the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist extremists”. He accused the West of spreading chaos in Syria and other Arab countries by arming Islamist terrorists and disrupting national armies and called for strict censorship of Egyptian movies which he claimed promoted violence and terrorism.
