Justice Party throws weight behind Sabbahi campaign

The Justice Party will back presidential hopeful Hamdeen Sabbahi in the upcoming election, the group announced in a press conference Monday, joining the ranks of the Socialist Popular Alliance Party and the Revolutionary Socialists.

Sabbahi — founder of the Nasserist-oriented Popular Current Party and third runner up in the 2012 presidential election — made a surprise appearance at the presser.

Addressing the attendees, the candidate said that a discourse of hate and marginalization has come to overshadow a “rhetoric of love,” warning that Egypt has proven unable to rid itself of corruption-fostering policies.

But Egypt can still choose to continue down the path it started on, a path that has allowed it to achieve two revolutions, Sabbahi exhorted.

“The Egyptian people cannot afford to abandon two revolutions, after all of the sacrifices they have given,” he said.

However, fundamental changes still need to be made, according to the 59-year-old. “Egyptians have sacrificed, but received nothing in return,” he said. “The dependency on the West still persists.”

“We will continue and achieve our dream,” Sabbahi continued, “not in the name of a candidate or a party, but in the name of Egypt’s right to live in dignity and to build a strong economy that is capable of producing enough wealth to be distributed equally.”

Sabbahi spoke briefly of his campaign platform, saying he is working to establish a “modern, civil state based on citizenship” at the service of the people, where discrimination is criminalized and corruption is eradicated.

Earlier this week, the Socialist Popular Alliance Party announced it would back the left-leaning politician, following the Revolutionary Socialists’ statement on Sunday urging Egyptians to vote for Sabbahi — a less than ideal candidate, the party cautioned, but still better than the alternative: The massively popular former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who garnered close to half a million endorsements for his presidential bid.

The first round of voting in the country's second presidential election since former President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in 2011 is slated to commence on May 26-27.