Sabbahi hands in candidacy papers for presidential race

Leftist politician Hamdeen Sabbahi submitted his official papers for presidential candidacy on Saturday morning, his campaign stated on their Facebook page.

Sabbahi’s registration, pending confirmation by the High Elections Commission, means Egypt will have more than one candidate running for president.

Each candidate is required by law to collect at least 25,000 signatures of endorsement, including at least 1,000 from across 15 different governorates.

Sabbahi’s campaign confirmed they have obtained 31,000 signatures from 17 different governorates.

So far, the only candidate to have submitted candidacy papers is former Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has received over 400,000 endorsements.

If the Sabbahi campaign didn’t collect the required number of endorsements, the election would have been a national referendum on Sisi’s candidacy, with a five percent quorum of voters.

Sabbahi has requested the eagle as his electoral symbol, which he used in the 2012 presidential race, in which he came third behind former President Mohamed Morsi and Ahmed Shafiq, the campaign’s Facebook page added.

Sabbahi’s campaign complained that security forces had harassed their campaigners. Security forces have arrested Sabbahi supporters in the past for simply posting photos of the former journalist and self-described Nasserist.

Ahmed Kamel, a spokesperson for Sabbahi’s campaign, told Mada Masr that it is possible he will withdraw from the race if state institutions or security forces display bias towards Sisi’s candidacy. He added that, as long as participation is free and fair, Sabbahi supporters would use the process and not resort to street protests.

It is widely believed Sisi will win by a crushing majority. Sabbahi’s participation will likely influence perceptions of the process’s legitimacy. In the last constitutional referendum youth participation was dismally low, which pushed interim President Adly Mansour to meet with youth leaders to investigate why young people didn’t turn out to vote.

Security forces, Sabbahi, and other prominent politicians and religious figures agreed to the military’s ouster of the former president in July last year under Sisi's leadership and amid huge popular protests against his rule.

Sabbahi’s Popular Current aggressively campaigned for the June 30 protests, yet most components of the June 30 alliance that fought for Morsi’s ouster have lined up behind Sisi, including figures that supported Sabbahi during his first presidential run.