Egypt's al-Sissi submits bid for presidency
By Nehal El-Sherif, dpa
14.04.2014
Cairo (dpa) - Former army chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi officially submitted his papers to run for Egypt's presidential elections on Monday, around six weeks ahead of the long-awaited polls.
Lawyer Mohammed Bahaa Abu Shuqa went to the headquarters of the election commission in Cairo to present the official documents on behalf of al-Sissi, the campaign said.
To run in the presidential election, candidates need endorsements from 25,000 voters, including at least 1,000 in each of 15 provinces. The papers also include medical documents.
The campaign said they gathered 200,000 endorsements by citizens from different provinces.
"Field Marshall al-Sissi presents his appreciation and gratitude for all Egyptian people across the provinces, who presented their nominations to support him in his presidency bid," the campaign said in a statement.
Pictures showed private security guards delivering boxes, with al-Sissi's campaign slogan on it, containing the endorsements.
The popular ex-defence minister, who announced the ouster of president Mohammed Morsi in July, is widely expected to win the race.
Elections are scheduled to be held on May 26-27.
Nominations remain open until April 20.
Two other prominent figures announced they will run for Egypt's top position: former presidential candidate and left-wing nationalist Hamdeen Sabahy and controversial lawyer Mortada Mansour.
Both have yet to present their official documents to the election commission.
Meanwhile, two journalists were injured while covering clashes at Cairo University between security forces and students, the state-run al-Ahram newspaper reported.
Khaled Hussein, reporter for the daily Arabic newspaper Youm 7, was shot in the chest in front of the university's main gates.
Amr al-Sayyed, who works at the privately owned TV channel Sada al-Balad, was also shot.
Security forces used tear gas to disperse students who gathered at the university to protest against security crackdown on students loyal to Morsi.
Morsi’s backers have been holding almost daily protests since the military deposed him in July following mass protests against his one-year rule.
Earlier Monday, the Cairo Court for Urgent Matters ruled the Sinai-based militant group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis a terrorist organization.
The group has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks that targeted security forces across Egypt over the past year, including a car bombing at a police headquarters in Cairo in January, an assassination attempt against Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim in September and the bombing of a tourist bus in Sinai in February.
More than 400 members of the Egyptian security forces have been killed in militant attacks and clashes over the past year.
In December, the military-backed government designated Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. The Brotherhood has repeatedly denied any involvement in violence, accusing Egyptian authorities of oppression.
