Political Profile: All you need to know about Ahmed Shafik

CAIRO – 25 November 2017: The name of former presidential candidate Ahmed Shafik has circulated recently in political circles and discussions about the upcoming elections due in 2018.

Egypt Today sheds lights on key news about the former presidential candidate who fled Egypt since 2012 on the pretense of performing a minor pilgrimage but has not come back to Egypt.

 The National Movement Party announced Ahmed Shafik will run for the upcoming presidential elections in 2018, the party’s head, Major General Raouf al-Sayyed, asserted on May 23, 2017.

o He told Masr al-Arabiya (blocked pro-Brotherhood website) that he met with Shafik in the UAE and discussed many issues about the party, in addition to the Egypt’s local affairs. “Shafik has so many supporters in the Egyptian society,” Sayyed stressed.

 A few days ago, many members of the Egyptian National Movement Party led by Ahmed Shafik resigned because of their opposition to the party’s connection with the Muslim Brotherhood.

 Earlier in February, Shafik denied that he would run for the 2018 presidential elections. He said, “This false news aims only at making a scoop.”

 In April 2017, the SMS service of al-Watan newspaper was hacked by an unknown entity, Al-Watan’s managing editor Mahmoud al-Barghouti said in a press statement.

o Subscribers to Al-Watan newspaper’s Short Message Service (SMS) news alerts received a message saying that “a military coup was underway in Egypt, led by Shafik.”

 The former prime minister, former minister of civil aviation and former candidate for the presidency of Egypt (2012) was born in November 1941.

 Appointed as prime minister of Egypt on January 29, 2011 by then-President Hosni Mubarak.

 Shafik held the post for just one month, resigning on March 3, 2011 in response to public demand.

 Shafik served as minister of civil aviation from 2002 until his appointment as prime minister.

 Shafik was a fighter pilot in the 1973 October War, under the command of Hosni Mubarak.

 He lost the presidential elections of 2012 to Mohamed Morsi. Afterwards, he fled to the UAE and his name was placed on travel watch lists.

 In 2013, the criminal court acquitted Shafik from various accusations over illegitimate land selling and corruption, and he was removed from the travel watch list in November 2016.

 In 2015, a campaign called “You’re the President” appeared in Egypt, calling on Shafik to run the country on allegations that the 2014 elections were forged by the Brotherhood.