Sisi registers for election with 460,000 signatures of support, says campaign

Former Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi officially entered the race for the presidency on Monday when his lawyer handed over his registration papers to the Presidential Elections Committee, the state-owned news site EgyNews reported.

Lawyer Mohamed Bahaa Abu Shaqah submitted three affadavits detailing Sisi’s financial status, Egyptian nationality and criminal record. The 59-year-old also submitted medical reports and an application for his candidacy.

The Elections Law stipulates that a presidential hopeful must provide at least 25,000 endorsements from Egyptian citizens residing in at least 15 different governorates in order to run in the election. Sisi, who is widely expected to win the elections slated to begin on March 26-27, reportedly garnered several times more than the minimum required.

While the state-owned news site Al-Ahram reported that Sisi submitted 200,000 signatures, and EgyNews reported 300,000, the news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted the field marshal’s spokesperson Ahmed Kamel as saying that he had “received more than 460,000 signatures from citizens across the country.”

On Friday, a wave of protests against the military-backed interim government resulted in violent confrontations between protesters — many of them supporters of the recently banned Muslim Brotherhood — and security forces, leaving at least three dead. Undeterred by the violence, on that same day sources in Sisi’s campaign said that the ex-army chief would personally submit his application for the presidency, despite the security risk, the privately owned newspaper Al-Shorouk reported.

However, his lawyer ultimately submitted the papers, with the approval of the elections commission.

Sisi announced his intention to run for the presidency in March after months of media speculation and denials from his spokespeople.