Egyptians Abroad Begin Voting
Egyptians abroad must get ready to vote in the 2024 Egyptian presidential election, as voting begins on Friday, 1 December.
In case you do not remember well, four people will compete for the presidency of the republic: current President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi; Abdel Sanad Yamama, candidate and head of the Wafd Party; Hazem Omar, head of the Republican People’s Party; and Farid Zahran, head of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party. Remember that you may pay a fine of EGP 500 if you fail to vote.
Yamama Declares: I Will Raise the Minimum Wage
Presidential candidate Abdel Sanad Yamama promised all Egyptians to raise the minimum wage to EGP 5,000 ($148). But rest assured: Yamama pointed out that this decision is not aimed at gaining popularity or at influencing citizens’ emotions. Rather, it is “a decision studied carefully and meticulously so that it does not lead to dire consequences”, in his words.
The head of the Wafd Party added that the decision to raise wages must be implemented in accordance with the provisions of the constitution, because we are “a state of institutions”. But Yamama warned that if the equivalent of this wage increase is not provided, it may lead to cutting part of the general budget allocated to various spending items in order to apply it. Yamama did not forget the private sector in his statements, saying: “As for the private sector, the annual increase, if not well studied, will lead to the closure of establishments and the laying off of workers.”
Sisi’s Campaign: We Met Experts in All Fields and Organised 18 Events
It seems that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s campaign has something to compete with Abdel Sanad Yamama. The campaign said it held several meetings with experts and stakeholders in all fields to benefit from their expertise and knowledge and include it in Sisi’s vision for the coming years. The campaign noted that it held 110 meetings with a total of 2,750 visiting experts and 18 external events, in addition to meeting 315 bodies.
Counsellor Mahmoud Fawzi, head of the campaign, said at a press conference to present the latest developments in the campaign’s activity before the start of voting by Egyptians abroad that the campaign held 40 meetings via “video conference” for Egyptians in 60 countries, during which it communicated directly with more than 750 Egyptians, including community leaders and influencers in their communities, stressing that the common ground of all these meetings was that “the human being comes first”.
Farid Zahran: 10 Candidates for Prime Minister
Presidential candidate Farid Zahran said that he will choose a political and economic figure, and that there are 10 people fit to head the government if he is elected President of the Republic. If it seems puzzling to you to guess who will be prime minister or who the 10 candidates are, Zahran tried to narrow it down by adding, during his interview with TV presenter Ahmed Moussa, that he will choose a political and economic figure for the government if he wins.
He pointed out that the President of the Republic is the head of the executive authority and an arbiter between the authorities, not their controller, and that he must give space to the government and its members.
Zahran stated that he is against a President of the Republic who drowns himself in details, because a president who gets into every detail ends up making the wrong decision.
Hazem Omar Is Not a Filler
Mohamed Salah, general coordinator of presidential candidate Hazem Omar’s campaign, said that Omar is not there just to make up the numbers, and that his candidacy came based on several factors, most notably that the Republican People’s Party, which Omar heads, has a large popular base in all of Egypt’s governorates.
Salah added, during the third electoral conference of Hazem Omar’s campaign, that Hazem Omar was chosen as a candidate in the presidential election because he is a statesman who enjoys the trust of citizens and party organisations, in addition to the political experience he has gained throughout his career.
He said: “Presidential candidate Hazem Omar’s programme is one of the best programmes of party candidates in the presidential election, given the realistic solutions it contains for all the problems that citizens at large suffer from.”
