Aspiring candidate Gameela Ismail drops out of Egypt's 2024 presidential race

CAIRO – 11 October 2023: Aspiring candidate Gameela Ismail, head of Al-Dostour (Constitution) Party, announced on Wednesday dropping out of Egypt’s presidential race 2024 based on her party’s decision.

“I respect and adhere to the decision of the General Assembly, the party’s highest authority,” Ismail said in a statement on Facebook, affirming withdrawal of her approval of the political bureau’s recommendation for her to run in the elections.

The decision “comes in implementation of the democracy … and in respect of the party’s organizational rules that apply to everyone from the party’s president to its newest members,” she added.

Ismail announced readiness to run for elections in September, saying that her candidacy comes “amid the ambiguity of the political scene.”

So far, five candidates are preparing to run for presidential elections in December, including incumbent President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

Of those, four candidates managed to secure the required endorsements from the parliament to run in the elections. On the other hand, former MP and opposition figure Ahmed El-Tantawi still struggles to secure the required endorsements from citizens in notary offices.

According to the law, any citizen willing to run for president must first obtain endorsement from at least 25,000 citizens in 15 or more governorates in order for their candidacy to be accepted.

Instead, a citizen can run for elections in case he managed to secure endorsement from 20 or more members of the House of Representatives.

Sisi secured endorsements from 424 parliament members and 1.13 million citizens at notary offices to run in the upcoming elections, the National Election Authority (NEA) said on Saturday.

Besides Sisi, Farid Zahran, head of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, and Abdel Sanad Yamama, head of Al-Wafd Party have presented their candidacy papers to the NEA.

Moreover, and Hazem Omar, head of the People’s Republican Party have secured the required endorsements and plans to submit his candidacy papers on Friday.

Check the full timetable of the 2024 Presidential Elections from here.