Dostour Party head Gameela Ismail bows out of presidential race

Dostour Party President Gameela Ismail will no longer seek nomination for President of Egypt, the opposition politician announced on Wednesday, a day after the party’s general assembly voted not to back her candidacy.

With Ismail out of the running, Ahmed Tantawi is now the only opposition candidate still seeking official qualification to challenge President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s reelection in December.

Twenty days after announcing her intention to run for president, Ismail had not succeeded in obtaining the necessary backing to qualify as a candidate. Her campaign did not meet either of the requirements to qualify for Egypt’s presidential election — securing 20 endorsements from sitting members of Parliament or collecting 25,000 nomination forms directly from members of the public.

Hours before her party’s Tuesday general assembly meeting, Ismail’s campaign denied claims that the candidate had received enough nominations and denounced the “systematic restrictions” faced by members of the public trying to register their support for her. Supporters of both Ismail and Tantawi have faced obstruction and even assault by the rival supporters of Sisi.

But Ismail described the Dostour Party’s vote as the deciding factor. “Although I could have completed my candidacy independently, my choice from the start was to participate to help develop the party’s political performance and strengthen the effectiveness of its cadres in engaging popular sectors excluded and marginalized from participating in public affairs,” she said.

Some members of the party were not keen to back Ismail because they were already involved with Tantawi’s campaign, Dostour Party sources told Mada Masr on condition of anonymity. At least two leading Dostour figures are also leading members of Tantawi’s campaign. Belal Habib, a member of the party’s arbitration panel, serves as head of the legal secretariat in the Tantawi campaign, while party high committee member, Amir Eissa, is Tantawi’s mass action official.

But Dostour Party spokesperson Walid al-Ammari told Mada Masr that the number of party members engaging with Tantawi’s campaign was not enough to tip the scales in Tuesday’s party decision.

The party is yet to determine whether it will back another candidate, Ammari added, and is waiting until the October 14 deadline for all candidates to submit their applications to the National Elections Authority.

With Ismail out of the race, Tantawi remains the only opposition contender yet to submit an application to run. Tantawi’s campaign has stirred up a rare tide of public engagement, but his campaigners have faced arrests and security harassment, while members of the public heading to register their backing for the opposition politician’s candidacy have faced obstruction and even assault. He has three remaining days to secure the necessary number of backers, but had only a fraction of the required 25,000 at last count.

Meanwhile, Egyptian Social Democratic Party President Farid Zahran has submitted his candidacy with 30 backers from Parliament, as has Wafd Party President Abdel Sanad Yamama, also reaching the necessary quota of MPs.

Sisi submitted his candidacy last weekend with backing from over a million members of the public — some of whom were coerced into filing their endorsements — as well as over 400 supporters from Parliament.

Hazem Omar, a candidate from the pro-Sisi Republican People’s Party, is yet to submit his candidacy papers.

Writing by Ahmed Bakr.