As ‘Sisi for president’ fever rages, other candidates back out of race

With popular support for Colonel General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s presidency on the rise, former presidential hopefuls are starting to step out of the race.

Former diplomat Amr Moussa and the Nasserist founder of the Popular Current, Hamdeen Sabbahi, have both said they would not campaign in the presidential elections due to the increasing popularity of the head of the Armed Forces.

Sabbahi came in third in the 2012 presidential race that brought former President Mohamed Morsi to power. Morsi faced off against Mubarak-era minister Ahmed Shafiq in the run offs. Moussa ranked fifth among voters in the that year's elections.

Moussa, who headed the 50-member committee that drafted the constitution that was put up to a national referendum this week, announced that he had decided not to run in the upcoming presidential election during a press conference on Thursday.

"I'm not a presidential hopeful because the current Egyptian mood is in favor of Sisi, based on the Egyptian people's trust in the personality of the Armed Forces chief," he explained.

The current political landscape and the army leader’s widespread popular support give credence to the rumor that Sisi could run, Moussa said, adding that Sisi enjoys the status of a “statesman.”

Moussa said he would advise Sisi to abide by the Constitution and other elements in the transitional roadmap crafted by the interim government.

The roadmap, developed by Sisi and other government officials in the aftermath of Morsi’s July 3 ouster, suggests holding parliamentary elections before presidential elections. However, various political forces have called for holding the presidential elections first.

The current draft constitution gives interim President Adly Mansour the power to decide which elections would be held first.

Sabbahi said in a telephone interview with the privately owned CBC channel that he would not run for president if Sisi would campaign, and if the colonel general would manage to "present a platform that expresses both the January 25 and June 30 revolutions, and adopts the building of a new state that is not based on Hosni Mubarak's corruption or Morsi's dictatorship.”

Underscoring his respect for Sisi and the Armed Forces, Sabbahi added, "I will not be a reason of a lack of unity, and I am willing to stand by the side of any hopeful that has a revolutionary platform, whether it is Sisi or someone else.”