BREAKING: MP Mansour will not stand for 2018 presidential election

CAIRO - 27 January 2018: Parliamentarian and chairman of Zamalek Sports Club Mortada Mansour announced on Saturday that he will not run for the 2018 Presidential election due in March, Akhbar al-Youm newspaper reported.

The 65-year-old parliamentarian abstained from giving further details on his withdrawal, noting that the reasons will be announced later in a press conference.

On January 13, Mansour had announced his intention to run for the presidency, telling TV host Ahmed Mousa on Ala Mas’oliety talk show on Sada al-Balad satellite channel that he will collect signatures of Parliament members to back his nomination.

However, most of MPs backed the nomination of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, who submitted his candidacy application to run for a second term on January 24.

Mansour is the third person to withdraw from the presidential race. Two other potential candidates, namely lawyer Khaled Ali and former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq, withdrew from the presidential bid. Former military chief of staff Sami Anan was disqualified over charges of “forgery”.

President Sisi is so far the only presidential hopeful registered as a candidate; Wafd Party leader El-Sayyid el-Badawi is expected to submit his candidacy application within two days.

The presidential election is set to take place March 26-28, with a possible run-off scheduled for April 24-26. If no run-offs are necessary, the winner will be announced on April 2.