Wafd renews support to Sisi’s nomination for president, reject Badawi's

CAIRO - 27 January 2018: Al-Wafd Party announced Saturday that it will back the candidacy of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi to run for president in the upcoming election on March 26, ruling out the party’s chairman El Sayyid el-Badawi presumptive nominee.

In a press conference held at the party’s headquarter at Dokki district in Giza, the supreme committee called on their members and all Egyptians to vote for Sisi to win another term in the office.

“Following prolonged discussions, the supreme committee renewed its previous decision to support President al-Sisi for a second term, considering the current circumstances and challenges Egypt face,” the statement reads, confirming that no one can handle the responsibility but President Sisi.

“During his first term, Sisi managed to save the Egypt’s identity, security and stability,” the statement explained, calling on all Egyptians to express their will through ballots.

Al-Wafd called for a meeting on Saturday that lasted for 5 hours and ended with a public voting, where majority of supreme committee rejected Badawi’s nomination, 42-2 votes.
On January 26, and two days after President Sisi has submitted his candidacy papers to the National Election Authority, president of al-Wafd Party Head of Wafd Party announced intention to run in the 2018 presidential election.

Lawyer Khaled Ali was among other few and prominent candidates who earlier announced their presidential bid before he took a decision not to contest the upcoming election after the Armed forces released a statement showing the disqualification of his then-competitor ex Military chief of Staff Samy Anan.

In a surprising move, On November 29, 2017, former Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik made public with his intention to run for president in the upcoming 2018 election before he abruptly made his mind and announced his retreat from the race.

The presidential election was 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.