Khattab promotes Sisi's candidacy in March election

CAIRO – 10 March 2018: Egyptian politician and diplomat Moushira Khattab participated on Friday in a mass conference held by “A Citizen” public campaign to support President Abdel Fatah Al Sisi for a second term in the upcoming presidential election due to take place on 26-28 March.

Khattab, Egypt’s nominee for UNESCO’s director-general 2017 election, said that the Egyptian Constitution guarantees equality among all citizens without gender discrimination, pointing out that many women held high-profile posts recently in the government.

She added in her speech before the conference that Sisi was the first Egyptian president to pay attention to women's issues rather than the First Lady.

"For the first time, the head of the executive authority in Egypt is committed to the rights of Egyptian women, therefore Egyptian women support the president, " Khattab said.

She pointed out that Sisi was also the first president to visit a victim of harassment in the hospital, adding that Sisi apologized to her and vowed that this would not happen again. Khattab noted that the Egyptian government under Sisi tightened laws against harassment which made the streets safer than ever.

Several public campaigns were organized by support groups in different governorates to rally for Sisi’s candidacy for re-election throughout the past weeks. The public campaigns that joined the official campaign in support of Sisi were (To Build It), (A Citizen) and (For the Sake of Egypt).

The National Election Authority (NEA), headed by counselor Lashin Ibrahim, announced on February 24 the final list for Egypt’s upcoming presidential election including President Sisi and Moussa Moustafa Moussa, Head of al-Ghad Party.

Sisi showed his intention to run for president during his closing speech at the end of the three-day “Tale of a Homeland” conference, where the president and the Egyptian government presented an overview of the projects and achievements made in different fields during the last four years.

On his official Twitter account, Sisi called on the Egyptian people to participate intensively in the upcoming election and give their votes to whomever they see most eligible.

The NEA announced that the voting process in the 2018 presidential election will start on March 26, in a televised statement on January 8.

Sixty million eligible voters will cast their ballots in the election on March 26-28 in Egypt, while expatriates will vote on March 16-18, said Ibrahim in a press conference.

The primary results of the first round of the election will be announced on March 29, where decisions on appeals submitted by candidates, if any, will be made.

The final results of the first round will be announced on April 2.