Islamist presidential hopeful Mohamed Selim al-Awa will head to the Presidential Elections Commission Wednesday with the endorsement of 30 MPs after deciding to exclude the signatures collected from citizens, his campaign manager said. Mohamed Moemen told state-run news agency MENA that Awa received the signatures from lawmakers of the Salafi-oriented Nour Party, Wasat Party, Jama'a al-Islamiya's Construction and Development Party and a number of independents. He said the campaign preferred to submit the minimum number of signatures even though it had collected more than required. Moemen said the campaign chose not to submit the 30,000 citizen signatures it had gathered because of concerns previously raised over violations, such as citizens endorsing more than one candidate, and Notary Authority problems that could invalidate certain signatures. “We decided to avoid these problems, and we decided to use only those of the People's Assembly and Shura Council members,” Moemen said. Awa on Wednesday had accused a “rival” of offering money for signatures in support of Awa to tarnish his reputation ahead of the presidential election. In a phone interview on the privately owned Dream TV channel, Awa said his rival — who he refused to name — pretended to campaign for him in and around Cairo in cars with loudspeakers, allegedly offering people LE50 to sign in support of his candidacy. Awa said he filed a report against the rival to the attorney general and the Presidential Elections Commission. “This is an election bribe that I cannot accept. Its purpose is to smear my reputation,” he said, stressing that he didn't ask anyone to do it and that he will not use the signatures. Awa said he knows who was behind the bribery, but he will not announce his name until after the end of the election. “If he wins, I will announce it. If not, I will not,” Awa said. “There is a lot of chaos at the notary regarding official signatures of support. This is one of the shortcomings of the [Presidential Elections] Commission,” he said. Luxor's public prosecutor is conducting an investigation into accusations that notary employees forged signatures for another presidential hopeful, Amr Moussa. Translated from MENA
