53-year-old to head Sisi’s youth commission

The campaign of former Defence Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi formed a youth commission that is to be headed by a 53-year-old.

Hazem Abdel Azeem, a professor of telecommunications and a liberal politician, will head the committee that was announced on Sisi’s Facebook page. Tamarod founder Mahmoud Badr will also be on the committee alongside co-founder Tarek al-Kholy.

Other members include Mohamed Badran, Karim al-Saqqa, Hossam Hazem, and Zaki al-Qady — who will act as media spokesperson.  

“The head and members of the committee were selected directly by the official campaign of the presidential hopeful,” the post added.

On Sunday, the High Elections Commission announced the end of the period of accepting applications for the upcoming presidential elections, scheduled for May 26 and 27. Head of the Commission, Judge Abdel Aziz Salman said that the number of signature endorsements filed in favor of Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi amount to 188,930.

The youth vote in the last constitutional election was particularly low, prompting interim President Adly Mansour and government officials to meet with youth leaders.

The committee will organize meetings, coordinate with young people employed in the government, and communicate with young Egyptians abroad, among other tasks, the post said.

Earlier on Thursday, the campaign’s official Facebook page posted a number of photos showing a meeting between Sisi and what they called “a delegation of creative youths … In line with Sisi’s desire to communicate with different sectors of young people and to identify with their vision for the future.”

The post stirred controversy among social media users on Facebook and Twitter who objected to the selection of the group in the photo, among whom was Merna Gameel, a game show presenter on private satellite TV channel Masaya.