Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Confirms Third Term Bid Amid Economic Crisis and Political Opposition

Tuesday, 03/10/2023 20:40 WIB

Photo: Egyptian President, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has confirmed that he will run for a third term in elections scheduled to take place in December.

The election, which el-Sisi is expected to win, comes as Egypt grapples with an economic crisis, record inflation, a sharply depreciating local currency and claims from the political opposition that its candidates were subjected to harassment and intimidation.

“I have decided to nominate myself to realize this dream during the new presidential term,” said el-Sisi, making the announcement in a televised speech on Monday (2/10/2023).

“I call on all Egyptian people to participate in this democratic arena to choose with their patriotic conscience who is worthy,” he said, as reported. Al Jazeera.

An estimated 65 million Egyptians are reportedly eligible to vote in the elections, which will be held over three days from December 10 to 12. Egyptians living abroad will be able to cast their votes on December 1-3.

A number of politicians have announced their candidacy for president, but none has posed a serious challenge to el-Sisi, who has been in power since 2014 after leading the army to oust Egypt’s first democratically elected President, Mohammed Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013.

El-Sisi was declared the winner of the 2014 and 2018 presidential elections with 97% of the vote.

Egypt has seen a crackdown on freedom of expression under el-Sisi’s rule with hundreds of activists and political opponents imprisoned or exiled, sparking violent protests from human rights activists.

The Muslim Brotherhood has been banned as a “terrorist” organization and Egypt’s fragmented political opposition says it is under pressure ahead of the election.

The campaign of Ahmed al-Tantawi, a former lawmaker and the most prominent potential opponent of el-Sisi, complained that citizens were hampered when they tried to register their support for his candidacy.

Prospective candidates need 25,000 public signatures or the support of 20 strongly pro-Sisi lawmakers to stand in the election.

Many of those who came to the notary’s office to register their support for al-Tantawi were told the registration system was not working, told to return later or register elsewhere, opposition official Mohamed Abol Deyar’s campaign manager told Reuters news agency.

The Civil Democratic Movement, which is a collection of several small opposition parties, also said in a statement on Sunday that there had been a number of violations against citizens trying to nominate candidates against el-Sisi.

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