Ex-chief of staff Sami Anan announces presidential bid

CAIRO – 20 January 2018: Former armed forces chief of staff Sami Anan announced on Saturday his intention to run in the 2018 presidential election scheduled on March 26 and 28 inside Egypt, in a video posted on Anan's official Facebook page.

“I made my decision to present my nomination papers to the National Electoral Commission as a presidential candidate, in accordance to the announced rules and dates by the commission,” Anan said.

He revealed choosing two civil figures to act as his deputies during the presidential campaign, including Hisham Genena, former head of the Central Auditing Organization, and Hazem Hosny, professor of economics and political science at Cairo University.

Masr Al-Orouba Al-Democraty Party (Egypt Arabism Democratic Party) has announced last week its support for Anan to run for president in the 2018 election. Sami Balah, secretary-general of the party, announced that the supreme body of Masr Al-Orouba agreed collectively on the nomination of Anan.

"A statement to the great people of Egypt, Sami Anan will run for president in the 2018 elections," said the secretary-general of the party, founded by Anan, in a statement on his Facebook page.

He continued: "The meeting of the Supreme Committee of the Masr Al-Orouba party has officially chosen Anan to represent the party in the next presidential elections. The party will hold a press conference at its headquarters in Dokki to announce Anan’s nomination.”

Anan served as Egypt’s army chief of staff and the second man in the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) from 2005 until 2012, when he was forced to retire from his post by former president Mohamed Morsi.

Meanwhile, President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi also 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, Al-Sisi called on the Egyptian people to participate intensively in the upcoming election and give their votes to whomever they see most eligible,

The National Electoral Commission (NEC) 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 NEC Chairman Lasheen Ibrahim in a press conference.

The final list of the candidates will be announced on February 24, he added, noting that the deadline for any candidate to retreat will be on March 1. 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.