Reem Leila looks at some of the presidential race's no-hopers Abul-Ezz El-Harriri, a current member of People's Assembly and founding member of the leftist Socialist Popular Alliance, was born in 1944 in Daqahliya. He served as an MP in the 1970s for the Tagammu Party. El-Hariri graduated from a technical industrial high school in 1962. He joined the Arab Socialist Union in 1966. In the 70s he completed degrees in history and law. El-Hariri was sentenced to jail five times during the Sadat era for his labour activism and opposition to the 1978 Camp David Treaty. El-Hariri threw his hat in the race in late December 2011, stating he would be the "most suitable" candidate to rule the country because of what he said were his "significant political skills". The Socialist Popular Alliance Party (SPAP) officially selected El-Hariri to run for the presidency on 7 March 2012. According to El-Hariri, a strict pricing scheme for all strategic goods would be enforced as soon as he becomes president to put an end to soaring inflation. "Most Egyptians currently spend more than half of their monthly wages on basic commodities due to mounting costs," El-Hariri said. Even though El-Hariri is an MP, he surprisingly filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) arguing the parliament is unconstitutional. He also filed another lawsuit against Article 28 of the constitutional declaration issued by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces in March 2011, stating that decisions of the Presidential Elections Commission cannot be appealed. Hassan Nafaa, political analyst and professor of political science at Cairo University, said that although El-Hariri has spent many years in parliament and political life in general, he might not win the elections due to challenges from other leftist presidential candidates Khaled Ali and Hamdeen Sabahi. "El-Hariri lacks experience in foreign affairs, in addition to his strong opposition to Israel and the United States. These two points could very possibly make him lose the presidential race. The country at this time is in dire need of a qualified president with high political potential," Nafaa said. Mahmoud Hossam was born in Alexandria in 1964. A former police officer, he graduated from the Police Academy in 1958. Between 1992 and 1994 he worked for the UN's Middle Eastern Human Rights Department. Hossam is currently head of the Al-Bedaya Party which groups members of the dismantled National Democratic Party (NDP). Hossam submitted his presidential credentials to the Presidential Elections Commission on 9 April with the support of 40,000 public endorsements when 30,000 were enough. He then told the press he had short-term and long-term political agendas. He says his short term agenda includes returning security to the streets and ridding the police system of corruption. "It is essential to build cooperation and trust between the people and the police," says Hossam. In the longer term he says he will focus on ways to create new jobs, increase production, revive the agricultural sector and improve health and education systems. "I realise that my chances of winning might be weak, due to strong competition from veteran political figures, yet I have easily obtained the trust of 40,000 people. This gives me confidence and great hope in making them 40 million people," Hossam said. Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies political analyst, MP Emad Gad, writes off Hossam's chances of success as close to nil. "Hossam does not have any solid political experience. He has spent most of his life as a police and lacks any real experience in foreign, regional and domestic affairs," says Gad. Abdallah El-Ashaal was born in Sharqiya in 1945. He graduated from Cairo University's Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences and completed a PhD in international law at Alexandria University. In 1968 he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, serving as Egypt's ambassador to Bahrain, Greece, Jeddah, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia. A former assistant to the foreign minister and head of the ministry's strategic planning committee, he went on to found the liberal Misr Al-Hurra (Free Egypt) Party which calls for a civil state based on parliamentary democracy. Though El-Ashaal insists he is a secular candidate he is being fielded by the Salafist Al-Asala Party. El-Ashaal resigned from the Foreign Ministry because he was against what he described as the corrupt policies of the former regime. He said his electoral programme called "The National Revival of Egypt Project" would focus on eliminating all symbols of the former regime. El-Ashaal said he will work on improving the agricultural sector "as it has been suffering many deficiencies for decades," as well as reviving national projects as that of Toshka and Al-Salam canals. He also announced he would eliminate unemployment in only four years. The potential presidential candidate will also work on revising the treaty which governs the import of Egyptian natural gas to Israel. According to El-Ashaal Egypt's resources are only for Egyptians. "I will also call on Egyptians living abroad to initiate a special fund in Egypt through which they can invest their money inside the country in order to revive the Egyptian economy," El-Ashaal said. El-Ashaal, says Nafaa, lacks any support base, and given his announcement that he was willing to pull out of the race in favour of Khairat El-Shater, is unlikely to be viwed by many voters as a serious candidate. Mohamed Fawzi was born in 1945. A former police officer, Fawzi graduated from Ain Shams University's Faculty of Law. He worked in the Upper Egypt village of Nagaa Hammadi in the police investigations department, later becoming head of Salamout City Council. The Geel Democratic Party nominated Fawzi who presented his presidential documents to the Presidential Elections Commission in April. Fawzi told the press that security on the country's streets would top his electoral agenda. At the same time, the economic core, Fawzi said, is extremely important. "We should start benefiting from Egypt's natural and rich resources such as mountains of gold, and oil, phosphate and other resources. Egypt's economic movement forward will encourage the world to respect us. "Competition between presidential candidates should be based on each one's ideas, concepts and plans, not personal fame. I decided to join the race not to win but to present my ideas to the public and whoever wins can apply them," Fawzi said. Fawzi's electoral programme will focus not only on education but on raising future generations properly. "I believe in straightening matters, especially security and education, and eradicating corruption prevalent everywhere. This would be followed by implementing national projects to accomplish economic stability in the country." Due to a lack of financial resources Fawzi said he did not expect to win. "I don't receive any financial support from any party or authority. I am depending on myself. I call upon other presidential candidates to reveal the financial sources of their electoral campaigns," argued Fawzi. Gad rates Fawzi's chances of winning as extremely low. "I doubt he has any chance. People do not know him, and he has minimal awareness of politics and foreign affairs."
