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Sisi announces Egypt reelection bid

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Published: 05:21, 20 January 2018   Update: 15:18, 26 July 2020
Sisi announces Egypt reelection bid

International Desk: Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has announced he will run for a second, four-year term in the country's presidential elections that will take place in March.

Sisi made the expected announcement during a televised conference in Cairo on Friday where he stressed the importance of citizens voting to "preserve the democratic experience that begun four years ago".

"Your participation in the election will be a strong message," he said, before jokingly adding that Egyptians would "become exhausted with me again because Egypt needs every sacrifice".

The presidential vote will be held on March 26-28, with a runoff scheduled for April 24-26, if needed. Candidates must register between January 20-29.

"It was just 11 days ago when the election commission announced that the elections will be held in March  - that's just eight weeks away," Dalia Fahmy, associate professor of political science at Long Island University, said from New Jersey in the US, adding that "Sisi has been systemically consolidating power around him".

Fahmy noted that the announcement of the January 29 deadline left hopefuls with "just a couple of weeks to announce candidacy, submit paperwork, assemble a campaign team, campaign for president and actually get election monitors in place".

So far, two candidates have stated their intentions to run: Khaled Ali, a human rights lawyer and opposition leader, and Essam Heggy, an Egyptian space scientist who served as the country's adviser for scientific affairs from 2013 to 2014.

Earlier this month, Ahmed Shafik, former prime minister, backtracked on his stated intention to be a presidential candidate.

Source: Agencies


risingbd/Jan 20, 2018/Mukul

 

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