Sisi campaign collects half a million signatures

In its first official press conference on Wednesday, the presidential campaign for Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced it had collected close to half a million endorsements.

Representatives for the campaign said they had submitted 200 thousand signed endorsements to the High Elections Commission on Monday, which were carefully selected to represent support for the former head of the Armed Forces from villages across all governorates.

The legal adviser for the campaign, Mohamed Abu Shokka, also said during the press conference that the campaign would continue to receive endorsements until the deadline, in order to show its appreciation for the peoples’ support.

Sisi is expected to win a sweeping victory in the elections after his popularity soared following his leading role in the removal of former President Mohamed Morsi last July.

On Wednesday, the “Our President” campaign, which has been collecting endorsements for the former director of Egyptian intelligence Mourad Mowafy, announced that it would stop its campaign and join Sisi’s at Mowafy’s request.

Samuel Ashay, the founder of the campaign, told Mada Masr that Mowafy had rejected the idea of running alongside Sisi from the beginning, and that the campaign was only collecting endorsements to pressure him to run.

Ashay, who was also a leading member of former head of intelligence Omar Suleiman’s campaign in 2012, said that the campaign found Mowafy to be an extension of the deceased intelligence leader and that they wanted him to run to ensure competitive elections.

Despite Mowafy’s refusal to run, the campaign collected 20 thousand endorsements for him, Ashay added.

“His position from the start was that he refused to run opposite Sisi. We were trying to pressure him, but he insisted,” said Ashay, who asserts that although the campaign is independent from Mowafy, it is in contact with him.