The window for candidate registration in the presidential elections will close at 2am next Sunday. As Al-Ahram Weekly went to press only former defence minister Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi's campaign had collected the required number of endorsements — a minimum of 25,000, with 1,000 from each of at least 15 governorates — for a presidential bid. Hamdeen Sabahi is also expected to register by the end of this week or Saturday though Sabahi has so far been able to collect endorsements from only 12 governorates. Wahid Abdel-Meguid, Al-Ahram political analyst responsible for drafting Sabahi's platform, told Al-Ahram Weekly that Sabahi had met with difficulties in collecting the required endorsements. “We have faced hostile campaigns from Al-Sisi's supporters, media attacks, and obstacles in notarising the required endorsements,” said Abdel-Meguid. “All those who claim they want a competitive poll rather than a farcical referendum must refrain from disseminating false rumours about Sabahi or making it difficult for his campaign to collect the endorsements from the remaining governorates.” Flamboyant lawyer Mortada Mansour and television broadcaster and feminist Bothaina Kamel have also announced they intend to submit presidential bids but the signs are they will be unable to collect the required endorsements. In 2012 Kamel failed to gather the 30,000 recommendations then required of candidates. On Tuesday Alexandria's Court of Urgent Matters ruled that members of the Muslim Brotherhood be barred from standing in presidential and parliamentary elections. The Court, presided over by judge Maged Zakaria, stated that since a judicial order had designated the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation the group's members must be barred from running in elections. Abdel-Meguid told the Weekly that “the Alexandria verdict was hardly a surprise”. “It is consistent with last February's order by Cairo's Urgent Matters Court that the Muslim Brotherhood be declared a terrorist organisation. Sabahi and Al-Sisi agree that the Muslim Brotherhood can have no role in Egypt's political future after being found guilty of organising violent attacks.” On Monday Mohamed Bahaa Abu Shokka, Al-Sisi's lawyer and a member of the liberal-oriented Wafd party, said Al-Sisi's campaign had been able to collect 200,000 endorsements drawn from all 27 of Egypt's governorates. “Four trucks were mobilised on Monday to transport 27 boxes containing endorsements to the Presidential Election Commission's (PEC) headquarters in East Cairo's Nasr City district,” said Abu Shokka. Judicial sources say the PEC finalised its review of Al-Sisi's endorsements on Tuesday and that his election campaign had selected the sun as its election symbol. As the deadline for registration approaches Al-Sisi and Sabahi are expected to reveal their electoral platforms. The PEC has announced that a final list of candidates will be made public on 2 May and that election campaigns will begin on 3 May and last until 23 May. On Monday Al-Sisi used his official Facebook page to reveal some parts of his platform. Egypt, he said, is in desperate need of LE3-4 trillion to get out of its economic crisis. “This cannot be achieved by the efforts of one man but requires collective action and coordinated cooperation,” he wrote. He stressed that “there will never be a place for totalitarian rule in Egypt and there is no return to the past… the Egyptian people who led two great revolutions will never allow anyone to manipulate them or dictate their future course”. In a meeting with members of the National Council for Women on Sunday Al-Sisi said “regardless of who will be the next president of Egypt nobody can ever dare bring the country back to the pre-25th January's Revolution's despotic practices”. “Religious discourse is in urgent need of a comprehensive review in Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries because it is out of step with the modern world,” he added. “When some attempt to torch university buildings or storm hospitals on religious grounds we are clearly not in harmony with the modern world.” Many officials who served Hosni Mubarak and his defunct ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) have mobilised in support of Al-Sisi's campaign. On Monday Al-Sisi met with Mahmoud Al-Sherif, a former NDP official and chairman of Al-Sadah Al-Ashraf, Ahmed Omar Hashem, former NDP official and President of Al-Azhar University, Hassan Al-Alfi, a former interior minister under Mubarak and Farouk Sultan, the former Supreme Constitutional Court president who headed the Commission responsible for supervising the 2012's presidential poll. The support of Mubarak era figures has drawn criticism from several factions, youth movements in particular. In a television interview Sabahi charged that “many of the symbols of corruption now form part of Al-Sisi's campaign”. He called on voters to “consider who it is that is lining up at public notary offices to support Al-Sisi” and wondered “why Al-Sisi has not taken a stance against those who announce they support him yet were loyal to the Mubarak regime”. Sabahi as claimed that “if the state authorities act impartiality I will win the vote”. Al-Dostour, the party founded by Mohamed Al-Baradei, was the first political faction to announce its support for Sabahi. Sabahi is also supported by the Egyptian Popular Current which he leads. The PEC has decided that voters must cast their ballots at the polling stations where their permanent address is registered. It has also announced EU monitors will be allowed to observe the ballot. This decision is part of an agreement concluded last week between visiting EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmi. The Arab League is also expected to join the EU in sending observers. Interim President Adli Mansour's Legal and Constitutional Affairs Advisor Ali Awad announced on Tuesday that “Egypt welcomes foreign monitoring of the poll”. Political analyst Amr Hashem Rabie says EU participation in monitoring the poll signals Western support for the post-30 June political roadmap.
