Ahmed Shafik: I’m not the ideal person to lead the nation now

CAIRO - 7 January 2018: Former Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Sheik announced Sunday his final decision regarding running for president in 2018 elections. Shafik retreated from his previous decision and said on his Twitter account that he will not run for president.

“By observing the reality, I have seen that I will not be the ideal person to lead the nation in the upcoming period; thus, I have decided not to run for president in the presidential elections in 2018,” Shafik announced on Sunday.

Shafik, 76, fled to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2012 following his failure in the presidential elections to the Muslim Brotherhood candidate, Mohamed Morsi. He returned past November revealing his intent to run again for president.

“I believe that my absence for more than five years had kept me away from the accurate follow-up to the developments and achievements in our home land, despite the violence and terrorism,” Shafik explained through his tweet.

On November 29, Shafik told Reuters that he intends to run for president, announcing that he will return to Egypt in the "coming days" in a video declaration from the UAE. Hours later, he appeared on the Qatari-owned news channel, Aljazeera, to declare that the authorities in the UAE have banned him from leaving the country. However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied the claim, saying that he is free to travel wherever he wants.

On December 2, Shafik landed in Cairo Airport in a private jet, causing controversy over claims that he had been abducted by Egyptian authorities, which he later denied, saying that he is staying at a hotel in Cairo near his house, shutting down allegations that his move is limited.