After Zahran, Ismail announce candidacies for president, Civil Democratic Movement must navigate pluralism principle

Two new opposition candidates have thrown their hat into the presidential ring in the last 24 hours. 

On Thursday afternoon, Farid Zahran, the head of the Egyptian Social Democratic party’s head, announced his intention to run in the upcoming presidential elections, after the approval of the party's supreme body. 

On Wednesday night, Gameela Ismail, the head of the Dostour Party, announced her intention to run in the elections in a letter addressed to party members. 

That brings the total number of candidates from the left-liberal-Nasserist Civil Democratic Movement alliance who’ve stated they intend to run for presidential elections to three, with former Karma Party head Ahmed Tantawi having announced his intention to run for the elections in May. 

Mada Masr reached out to members of the coalition following the announcement to understand how the bloc would position itself to the candidates. 

The head of the Socialist Popular Alliance Party, Medhat al-Zahid, told Mada Masr that the Civil Democratic Movement stands at the same distance from the three presidential candidates, and it will not support a particular candidate.

While the bloc believes in pluralism, Zahid added, it is now facing a new test to this principle. For Zahid, it would be better for the movement to be represented by one candidate, but it has no authority to prevent anyone from running. Therefore, the movement's focus will be on some understandings between the three candidates, in terms of commitment to the movement's charter and principles, he told Mada Masr.

Khaled Dawoud, the movement's official spokesman, told Mada Masr that it cannot infringe on the decision of any candidate, but the bloc will seek to achieve consensus between the candidates and coordinate between them. One may defer to another, Dawoud said, if there is a greater chance for one candidate to achieve success at the ballot box.

The National Election Authority set September 25 as the date to announce the timetable for the presidential elections. Article 142 of the Constitution requires that a candidate for the post of president of the republic gain the endorsement of at least 20 members of the House of Representatives or collect 25,000 signatures from citizens who have the right to vote in at least 15 governorates, with a minimum of 1,000 signatures from each governorate.

A source from the Egyptian Social Democratic Party told Mada Masr that the party will work to meet the election threshold for Zahran's candidacy papers by collecting the signatures of parliamentarians, explaining that the party has already communicated with other Civil Democratic Movement members: the Justice Party, which is represented in the House by two MPs, and the National Progressive Unionist Party, which has six MPs in the House. 

The Egyptian Social Democratic Party has seven MPs in the House.

As for the Dostour Party, it does not have any representation in the House of Representatives. A source from the party told Mada Masr it would work in parallel to win over endorsement from MPs while also canvassing for the needed signatures in governorates across the country. 

At the same time, Tantawi's campaign continues its work in various governorates. He is the only candidate to announce an administrative structure for his campaign, despite being subjected to a security attack in recent weeks.

In a Wednesday statement, the Egyptian Social Democratic Party called on authorities and the National Elections Authority to ensure adherence to the principles of managing fair elections put forward in a document by the National Dialogue Board of Trustees on Tuesday.