Update: Sisi gets 6 times the number of endorsements as Sabbahi

Head of the High Presidential Elections Committee Abdel Aziz Salman announced in a press conference on Sunday that the number of endorsements filed in favor of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi amount to 188,930, while leftist politician Hamdeen Sabbahi received 31,555 endorsements.

“We’re done assessing international organizations, and the commission has decided to allow six experienced organizations to monitor the elections. We’re yet to decide on which Egyptian organizations will do so, and permits for local media will be issued soon,” Salman added.

The High Elections Commission announced the end of the period of accepting applications for the upcoming presidential elections earlier on Sunday.

Only former Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and leftist politician and former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabbahi filed the 25,000 endorsements required for candidacy, including at least 1,000 from across 15 different governorates.

On Saturday, Sabbahi submitted his official papers amid speculations that he might not be able to collect enough signatures in time. However, his campaign confirmed that they managed to collect 31,000 signatures from 17 different governorates. 

According to the schedule that was previously released, the commission will receive any complaints or grievances from the presidential hopefuls on Tuesday and Wednesday, assess their credibility on April 24, 25 and 26, and then notify those whose requests haven’t been accepted on April 27.

If they are not accepted, the candidates then have the right to file complaints to the commission on April 28 and 29, and will receive a response on April 30 and May 1.

The deadline for candidates to relinquish their bid is on May 9, and requests will be published in the official gazette, Al-Ahram, and Al-Akhbar newspapers within two days.  

Candidates will be officially allowed to choose their electoral symbols on May 10 and 11. So far, Sabbahi has expressed a desire to use the eagle as his symbol, which is not currently an option, although sources told Al-Ahram that adding this symbol to the list is not beyond consideration. 

Al-Masry Al-Youm reported that the commission has decided to add new electoral symbols to the list, a decision allegedly linked to recent rumors that Sisi wishes to use the lion as his symbol.

Electoral campaigns are scheduled to start on May 3 and end on May 23, two days before the beginning of the elections on May 26 and 27. Meanwhile, expatriates will get the chance to vote from May 15 until 18.

The results of the first round will be released on June 5. If the need arises, a second round of elections will be held on June 16 and 17, with the final results released no later than June 26.