Parties found no alternative but backing Sisi for 2018 election

CAIRO - 29 January 2018: Egypt's 2018 presidential election is not clear as of yet, and is definitely not as clear as Egyptians would have liked it to be by now. The door has been shut by the National Electoral Authority (NEA) earlier today, but the candidates have not been announced by them, as of yet.

The only candidate with a clear presidential strategy in the race is Sisi, who submitted his candidacy application on January 24, following a mass convention he held to review his first term’s achievements under the title of "A Tale of Homeland."

The recent changes made most of the political parties in Egypt announce their support to Sisi to lead the nation at this critical moment.

Al-Nour Salafist party

The Salafit Al-Nour party has announced its support to President Sisi to run for a second term in the presidential election due in March, according to statements of the party’s chairperson, Younes Makhioun in a press conference on January 28.

"President Sisi is the only person who can provide stability and security for Egypt," Makhyoun said, calling on people to participate in the election due in March.

"Accordingly, the party’s supreme committee saw that incumbent president, Sisi, is the most capable of upholding such great responsibilities and can enhance cooperation amongst all state institutions: the police, the parliament, and the administrative bodies to achieve stability, and save the country from a multitude of dangers.

For this reason, Al-Nour party expresses its support for President Sisi for a second term, and urges all the party's members and all Egyptians to participate in the election as the party is motivated by a concern for building and construction, and to ward off negativity and despair. God save Egypt and its people,” the statement of Al-Nour read.

Al-Nour is the only legitimate political party that represents Salafists in Egypt; it was founded in June 2011 after the approval of the Political Parties' Committee. The party had 11 MPs at the House of Representatives in the 2015 elections and mostly calls on applying Islamic Sharia law in Egypt.


Al-Wafd party

Al-Wafd announced its support to president Sisi on Saturday, following a long debate between the members of its supreme committee, rejecting the candidacy of its chairman, El Sayyid el-Badawi.

"Following prolonged discussions, the supreme committee renewed its previous decision to support President Sisi for a second term, considering the current circumstances and challenges that Egypt faces," Al Wafd announced in a statement released on January 27.

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

Al Wafd is a nationalist liberal party which was first established by the late Egyptian opponent leader Saad Zaghloul during World War I in November 1918, it was dissolved after the revolution in 1952 to be re-established in 1978. A total number of 46 MPs currently represent Al Wafd at the House of Representatives.


Al-Masryeen Al-Ahrar (Free Egyptians) party

On July 26, 2017, Al-Masryeen Al-Ahrar party held an event at the Pyramids area to announce their support to Sisi, explaining that he is the man that can lead the nation in such a critical period.

“In the memory of mandating President Sisi to counter the terrorism practiced by the most dangerous group in history, the Muslim Brotherhood, back in 2013, we declare that the president is our party’s choice in the upcoming presidential election, since we believe that Egyptians deserve the best future,” chairman of the party, Essam Khalil said during the event.

The party will hold a press conference to rebut the systematic campaign orchestrated by the international media who claim that the upcoming election is not fair, according to Khalil, who affirmed that the party will start mobilizing voters to back President Sisi.

Earlier this month, 60 MPs out of Al-Masryeen Al-Ahrar’s 65 MPs at the House of Representatives signed a petition to support Sisi for a second term.

The party, founded in April 2011, is calling for a democratic, free state that adopts the free market policy in economics and equality between all society’s spectrums.


Al-Mo’tamar (Congress) Party

Al-Mo’tamar political party was one of the first parties to back Sisi’s candidacy on August 22, 2017, encouraging him to carry on the developmental projects he began in his first term.

“The party is planning to hold public conventions in the upcoming period to raise the awareness of citizens on the electoral process and to promote Sisi’s candidacy,” chairman of Al-Mo’tamar, Omar Semeida told Egypt Today.

Al-Mo’tamar is a coalition of 25 secularist, leftist and liberal parties and movements, who merged in one party following the revolution of 2011, headed by former secretary-general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa. The party is represented by 12 MPs at the House of Representatives.


Mostakbal Watan (Future of the Nation) party

Since establishing Mostakbal Watan party in November 2014, it has been a supporter of President Sisi and all his decisions. Moreover, its 57 MPs joined the ‘To Build It’ campaign inside the parliament which aimed at collecting signatures to urge Sisi to run for a second term.

Last September, the young leader of the party, Ashraf Rashad announced the party’s complete support to Sisi to run for a second term.

The party has not specified its ideology, saying that the goal behind its establishment is to back the state’s institutions and the army.


Homat Al-Watan (Homeland Protectors) party

The party declared its support to Sisi on May 6, 2017, before even announcing the elections’ timeline by the NEA.

Deputy chairman of the party, Mohamed Ghobashy told Egypt Today that Homat Al-Watan will issue a booklet that includes all the president’s achievements during his first term on February 17 in a public convention, in order to mobilize as many voters as possible for Sisi.

Homat Al-Watan is a party that calls for a civil state based on equality and liberty, founded on February 28, 2014. It has 18 MPs inside the House of Representatives.

Al-Tagammu’ Al-Watani Al-Taqadomi Al-Wahdawi (The National Progressive Unionist) party

The leftist party declared on January 27 that it has decided to back Sisi in the 2018 presidential election. The party’s General Secretariat appealed to Egyptians in an official statement to elect President Sisi since he is the leader of the June 30 uprising that removed the Muslim Brotherhood regime from office.

“Sisi proved his patriotism and his solid will to face different challenges in Egypt, defeating corruption, leading economic development projects, and facing all western pressures and attempts to intervene in the Egyptian domestic issues,” Al-Tagammu’s statement read, however, it expressed the party’s reservation on the latest economic procedures that caused the prices’ hike, affecting the citizens’ living standard negatively.

The party, that includes Marxists and Nasserists, was established in 1977 by former free officer of the 1952 revolution, Khaled Mohieddin. It has two MPs inside the House of Representatives.