Zawia3
Election Newsletter
Officially: Sisi, Yamama, Zahran, and Omar presidential candidates of Egypt
The National Election Commission announced on Monday the acceptance of presidential candidates’ applications, including presidential candidate Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Farid Zahran, Hazem Omar, and Abdel Sondos Yamama.
The National Election Commission’s statement said, “The examination committee, in its report, concluded that the four candidates fulfilled the conditions, procedures, and rules set by the constitution and the law regarding documents, citizen endorsement forms, and endorsements from members of the House of Representatives. The committee presented a comprehensive report to the commission’s board, which, after deliberation, made the decision to accept these applications.”
Withdrawing the appeal for excluding “Zahran” from the presidential elections
The legal committee of Farid Zahran’s presidential campaign in the Egyptian presidential elections announced that the appeal to exclude Zahran from the list of presidential candidates for the 2024 elections has been withdrawn by the appellant. Therefore, the court decided today, Monday, October 23, to “accept the appellant’s withdrawal of his appeal and leave the dispute.”
The legal committee added that even though the right to appeal is sacred and guaranteed for all, it must be noted that this appeal, even if the appellant had not withdrawn the dispute, would have been inevitably rejected for many legal reasons, including, for example, its lack of any evidence, especially since the candidate had submitted his nomination papers to the National Election Commission, including his criminal record, which was devoid of any convictions or prior judgments. Additionally, the appeal was not accepted as it was filed by someone without the necessary legal standing, as established by the judgments of the Administrative Court in such appeals.
Magdi Hamdan, a leader in the Conservative Party, had announced that he had filed four appeals to exclude the four presidential candidates, namely President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Zahran, the President of the Wafd Party Abdel Sondos Yamama, and the President of the People’s Republican Party Hazem Omar. Among the reasons cited by Hamdan in his appeal was that Zahran had been previously convicted in three embezzlement cases, emphasizing that even if the penalties imposed on him had lapsed due to statutes of limitations, their impact on him would persist, rendering him ineligible due to the requirement of good reputation for presidential candidacy.
Zahran calls on the opposition to support him
Farid Zahran called on opposition forces to support him in the upcoming presidential elections. Zahran, who is the president of the Egyptian Democratic Social Party, is the only candidate among those associated with the civil democratic movement, which includes 12 opposition parties, who managed to submit his nomination papers after receiving endorsements from members of the House of Representatives. Ahmed al-Tantawi, the former president of the Dignity Party, stated that he was prevented from running because his supporters were not allowed to obtain nomination support documents for the elections.
Only two parties declared their support for Zahran, the party he leads and the Justice Party, while five parties had announced their support for al-Tantawi before his campaign was suspended. These parties include Dignity, Nasserist, People’s Alliance, Conservatives, and National Accord.
Zahran’s campaign stated in a press release, “Unfortunately, no other opposition candidate was able to surpass the electoral threshold due to administrative and security constraints. We call on all civil movement forces to support us because, based on our experience as one of the founding parties of the civil movement, we have learned and continue to educate others that collective action is only successful when based on the principle of working together in areas of agreement and consensus, and to excuse each other for our differences. There is much we can do together in this presidential battle, which we see as an important and pivotal step in the democratic transition.”
Hazem Omar: We gathered endorsements without restrictions
Zaher al-Shaqanqiri, the official spokesperson for Hazem Omar’s presidential campaign, said that the decision to field a candidate in the presidential elections was a party decision, as the vote was taken in July of the previous year. The decision was made with the participation of the party’s Supreme Council, the Parliamentary Council, and the party’s General Secretariat, and its result was in favor of running a candidate in the upcoming presidential elections.
He added in media statements that the state institutions are completely neutral towards all presidential candidates, clarifying that the necessary endorsements for Hazem Omar’s presidential candidacy were collected freely without any restrictions or pressures. Despite numerous testimonies regarding Ahmed Tantawi’s endorsements, Omar easily obtained 68,000 popular endorsements and 46 parliamentary endorsements.
Yamama: I will amend the constitution and reduce the presidential term to 4 years
Abdel Sondos Yamama, the president of the Wafd Party and a presidential candidate, met with members of the Youth Parties and Politicians Coordination Committee on Monday. He emphasized that “change is necessary (…) and I am the alternative.” During the meeting, Yamama presented the general vision of his electoral program, which includes the importance of making necessary amendments to the articles that were added to the Egyptian constitution in 2019. The most prominent of these amendments is the reduction of the presidential term to 4 years instead of 6 years.
