Egyptian politician Mousa Mostafa Mousa said on Monday he would compete in presidential elections, hours before a nomination deadline was set to make President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi the sole candidate after withdrawals and a boycott call.

Several leading opposition figures called for a boycott on Sunday, of the March election, citing a wave of repression that has cleared the field of challengers to Sisi and left his top opponent in jail.

Former military commander Sisi was elected in 2014, a year after leading the army to oust Islamist President Mohamed Mursi.

He is expected to easily win the vote, the third since protests in 2011 unseated long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak.

Several opposition candidates who had earlier expressed interest in contesting for the presidency have since withdrawn their bids, citing intimidation from state agencies and an electoral process biased to favor the incumbent.

Mousa, who leads the Ghad party, told Reuters he was at the electoral commission registering his candidacy after having collected the required number of nomination pledges.

Mousa, who studied architecture in France and heads the Egyptian Council for Arab Tribes, became the chairperson of El-Ghad Party in September, 2005, following fierce disputes with the party’s founder Ayman Nour who founded El-Ghad Party in 2004.

Would-be candidates were required to register by 2 p.m. (1200 GMT) on Monday after clinching at least 20 nominations from parliament or 25,000 pledges from citizens across the country.

The electoral commission has since closed the nominations and will announce the final list of presidential candidates on Wednesday as per the electoral schedule.

Voting in the 2018 presidential election in Egypt will commence on March 26, as announced by the National Electoral Authority (NEA) on January 8. Sixty million eligible voters will cast their ballots in the election between March 26 and 28 in Egypt, while expatriates will vote between March 16 and 18. </s> An Egyptian politician emerged just ahead of a deadline on Monday as the sole challenger to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in an election in March the incumbent is set to win after other candidates withdrew citing repression.

Mousa Mostafa Mousa leads the Ghad party that has endorsed Sisi for a second term and even organised events to help nominate the former military commander as recently as last week.

Sisi was elected in 2014, a year after leading the army to oust President Mohamed Mursi, an Islamist. It is the third election since protests in 2011 unseated long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak.

Several leading opposition figures called on Sunday for an election boycott, blaming repression that has cleared the field of challengers and left Sisi's top opponent in jail.

At the time of Mousa's registration, his personal Facebook page included a cover photo with Sisi's face and "we support you as president of Egypt" written beneath it.

"We were supporting President Sisi before the decision to participate was taken," deputy head of the Ghad party Mahmoud Mousa told Reuters.

"We have a respectable programme that we are offering to the Egyptian people and we are presenting ourselves just like any other candidate would," he said.

Mousa said he registered his candidacy at the electoral commission after having collected the required number of nomination pledges, submitting his official paperwork just minutes before the final deadline.

Would-be candidates were required to register by 2 p.m. (1200 GMT) on Monday after clinching at least 20 nominations from parliament or 25,000 pledges from citizens across the country.

Mousa said he had netted 47,000 pledges and the backing of 27 lawmakers. The electoral commission said last week that Sisi had earned more than 1 million pledges. Over 500 of parliament's 595 lawmakers had already pledged support for Sisi.

The vote, slated for March 26-28, has come under heavy criticism from the United Nations, rights groups, and opposition figures who say its environment has been compromised by intimidation of opposition supporters, arrests, and a nomination process stacked in favour of the incumbent.

The electoral commission has said that it will ensure the vote is fair and transparent.

The last-minute bid comes days after Hisham Genena, a former anti-corruption watchdog chief who had been working to elect former military chief of staff Sami Anan, was attacked and badly wounded outside his home on Saturday.

Anan's campaign was abruptly halted after he was arrested last week and accused of running for office without military permission.

Following the attack, a group of prominent figures including members of Anan's campaign, former Islamist presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Abol Foutoh, and Mohamed Anwar Sadat, who halted his own presidential bid out of concern for the safety of his campaigners, called for a boycott.

They said the state's policies were paving the way for extended limits to presidential terms and were "removing any opportunity for the peaceful transfer of power". </s> CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian politician emerged just ahead of a deadline on Monday as the sole challenger to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in a March election the incumbent appears set to win after other candidates withdrew citing repression.

Samir Abdel Azem, Egyptian lawyer of Ghad Party chairperson Mousa Mostafa Mousa, speaks on the phone between special forces soldiers after presenting presidential candidacy papers in Cairo, Egypt January 29, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

Mousa Mostafa Mousa leads the Ghad party, which had endorsed Sisi for a second term and even organized events to help nominate the former military commander as recently as last week.

Mousa said he would mount a full challenge to Sisi, though opposition activists, journalists, and analysts took to Twitter to dismiss him as a dummy candidate, standing only to give the impression of a full democratic contest.

“This is all theater,” said a shopkeeper outside the Ghad party headquarters in downtown Cairo.

Sisi was elected in 2014, a year after leading the army to oust President Mohamed Mursi, an Islamist. It is the third election since protests in 2011 unseated long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak.

Several leading opposition figures have called for a boycott of the election, slated for March 26-28, saying repression had cleared the field of challengers and left Sisi’s top opponent in jail.

Even before campaigning has officially begun, the United Nations, rights groups and opposition figures criticized the run-up as compromised by arrests, intimidation of opponents and a nomination process stacked in favor of the incumbent.

At a news conference Mousa said the late decision to run came after all other candidates withdrew. He dismissed accusations that his candidacy was being used to present a false sense of competition.

“We are entering a fair and honorable competition in order to win,” said Mousa.

The electoral commission has said it will ensure the vote is fair and transparent.

Would-be candidates were required to register by 2 p.m. (1200 GMT) on Monday after clinching at least 20 nominations from parliament or 25,000 pledges from citizens across the country.

Mousa submitted his official paperwork just minutes before the final deadline. He said he had netted more than 47,000 pledges and the backing of 27 lawmakers.

Sisi’s campaign said on Monday it had received nomination pledges from 915,000 citizens. More than 500 of parliament’s 595 lawmakers had already pledged support for Sisi.

“We have a respectable program that we are offering to the Egyptian people and we are presenting ourselves just like any other candidate would,” the deputy head of the Ghad party, Mahmoud Mousa, said.

BOYCOTT CALLS

Earlier this week Hisham Genena, a former anti-corruption watchdog chief who had been working to elect former military chief of staff Sami Anan, was attacked and badly wounded outside his home.

Anan’s campaign was considered the strongest challenge to Sisi to date. It was abruptly halted after he was arrested last week and accused of running for office without military permission.

As late as Sunday it appeared likely that Sisi would have no electoral opponents, even as a group of prominent figures spanning the political spectrum announced the first major call to boycott the vote.

Members of Anan’s campaign, former Islamist presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Abol Foutoh, and Mohamed Anwar Sadat, who halted his own presidential bid this month, called for the election to be suspended and said state policies were “removing any opportunity for the peaceful transfer of power”.

Analysts said Mousa’s snap nomination suggested the state was looking to avoid a single-candidate election.

Slideshow (3 Images)

“The Egyptian state does not want this to be described as a referendum internationally, which it would be if there is no challenger whatsoever to Sisi on the ballot,” said H.A. Hellyer, senior non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council.

“Even if that challenger is someone like Mousa Mostafa Mousa, who is on record as backing Sisi for a second term – the optics seem to be assessed as less problematic if he does run,” Hellyer said.

“It’s going to be an intense competition,” wrote one Twitter user with a screenshot of Mousa’s Facebook page that included a photo of Sisi’s face and the slogan “we support you as president of Egypt” written beneath it. </s> Presidential candidate Moussa Mustafa Moussa of the Ghad, or Tomorrow, party, speaks during a press conference at his office in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Jan. 29, 2018. Moussa, a little-known Egyptian politician submitted his candidacy documents to the election commission Monday, emerging as a last-minute challenger to President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi after a string of would-be challengers were arrested, forced out or quit the race. The prospect of a one-candidate election had proven embarrassing for the government. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil) </s> The head of a minor Egyptian political party on Monday registered at the last minute to challenge President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the March presidential election, the official MENA news agency reported.

Moussa Mustafa Moussa, of the al-Ghad Party, submitted the documents for his candidacy just minutes before the election authority's deadline for accepting applications, becoming al-Sisi's only rival. </s> FILE PHOTO: Former Prime Minister and presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq attends a news conference in Cairo, Egypt May 14, 2012. Photo: Reuters

JOHANNESBURG – Former Egyptian prime minister Ahmed Shafik has said via his Twitter account he will no longer challenge incumbent President Abdel Fattah El Sisi in this year’s elections.

“I saw that I will not be the ideal person to lead the state during the coming period. Thus I have decided not to run in the upcoming 2018 presidential elections,” Shafik said in a statement posted on the social media site on Sunday.

The former air force commander had been seen as the most serious challenge to Sisi even though the president has not officially announced his candidacy.

Egypt’s National Electoral Commission (NEC) will on Monday afternoon announce the timetable of the country’s upcoming presidential elections – expected in the spring of 2018 – and details of the electoral process.

The independent NEC, established by a presidential decree in August 2017, is a 10-member commission and has sole responsibility for supervising general elections and referendums in Egypt.

The president of Egypt is elected using the two-round system, as outlined in Egypt’s constitution.

Election proceedings are to begin no later than 120 days before the end date of the current presidential term on June 7, 2018, and results will be announced no later than 30 days before the end of the current presidential term.

The last presidential elections were held in May 2014, with Sisi securing 96 percent of the vote against his sole competitor, Hamdeen Sabahi, a leftist and leader of the Egyptian Popular Current party Hamdeen Sabahi. </s> Several leading opposition figures called on Sunday for a boycott of Egypt’s March election, citing a wave of repression that has cleared the field of challengers to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

A string of candidates have withdrawn from the election on concerns over intimidation and the arrest of Sisi’s leading challenger, leaving the former general the sole contender only a day before the January 29 nomination deadline.

Former military commander Sisi was elected in 2014, a year after leading the army to the ousting of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi. The election will be the third since protests in 2011 unseated long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak.

“We call on our great people to boycott these elections entirely, and to not recognise anything that results from it,” figures from across the political spectrum said in a joint statement.

Signatories included Abdel Moneim Abol Foutoh, an Islamist who garnered nearly a fifth of first round votes in a 2012 presidential race; Hesham Genena, a prominent former anti-corruption watchdog chief; and Mohamed Anwar Sadat, who halted his own presidential bid this month out of concern for the safety of his campaigners.

Representatives from the president’s office and the electoral commission were not immediately available for comment on Sunday. The president’s office has not commented previously on the election race.

Over the weekend, the Salafist party, endorsed Sisi’s candidature saying ‘the current president is in the best position to carry out these immense tasks’.

Two other potential candidates in the presidential race, legislator Mortada Mansour and Sayed El-Badawi of the old Liberal Party, withdrew their bids on Saturday. Badawi went ahead to endorse Sisi as a sole presidential candidate.

The electoral commission has said that it will ensure the vote is fair and transparent.

Sunday’s statement calling for a boycott said that the state’s policies were paving the way for extended limits to presidential terms and are “removing any opportunity for the peaceful transfer of power”.

In a separate statement Sadat called on party leaders and public figures to join him in a peaceful march to the presidential palace to demand a meeting with Sisi to discuss “democratic transition” and a repressive media environment, though he did not specify a date.

The call to boycott comes a day after Genena was attacked and badly wounded outside his home in what his lawyer described as an attempted kidnapping.

Genena had been working to elect former military chief-of-staff Sami Anan, whose campaign had emerged as the most formidable challenge to Sisi before Anan was arrested last week and accused of running for office without military permission. </s> Egyptian authorities have warned people to vote or risk paying a fine, as they look to boost turnout in a lackluster election that is virtually guaranteed to hand President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi a second four-year term.

El-Sissi faces only a token opponent in the vote, which resembles the referendums held by autocrats for decades before the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011 briefly raised hopes of democratic change.

Serious challengers were forced out or arrested, including former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, who showed up late Tuesday at a polling center to cast his ballot. It was his first public appearance since he announced his intention to run in December from the United Arab Emirates, where he had gone after narrowly losing the 2012 election to the Islamist Mohammed Morsi.

The UAE deported Shafiq after the announcement, and he was met at the Cairo airport by unidentified security men who escorted him to a hotel on the city's outskirts. He decided against running soon thereafter. On Tuesday, he told reporters that voting was a "national duty," without elaborating.

The government is hoping for high turnout to lend the election legitimacy, and has staggered the voting over three days, with polls closing Wednesday at 9 p.m. (1900 GMT). Official results are expected on April 2.

The National Election Authority said in a statement Wednesday it will enforce a law penalizing boycotters with a fine of around $30. Similar warnings have been issued in previous elections, with no real enforcement.

Nearly 60 million Egyptians are eligible to vote at some 13,700 polling centers.

Turnout appears to be low so far, with short lines in front of some polling stations and others virtually empty. El-Sissi's only opponent is Moussa Mustafa Moussa, a little-known politician who supports the president and made no effort to campaign against him.

Local media, which are dominated by pro-government commentators, have urged people to come out and vote, saying they have a national obligation to resist foreign plots aimed at sowing discord. Groups of loyalists can be seen clapping and dancing in front of some polling stations, as patriotic music plays from loudspeakers.

Outside a polling station in Cairo's Manial neighborhood, about two dozen voters, mainly older people, lined up in front of the gates shortly before polls opened.

"I am here because I need security and stability," said 44-year-old government employee Amina el-Sayed. She said her manager gave her and her colleagues a day off to vote.

Sayada Fathi, a 62-year-old voter, said she wasn't bothered by the lack of competition.

"Our beloved el-Sissi will win easily," she said.

In Cairo's heavily populated, working-class district of Shubra, a trickle of voters, mainly older women, could be seen outside two polling stations.

Judges supervising the polling centers said that out of 7,800 registered voters, some 3,000 cast ballots, or around 38 percent.

In a nearby polling center the turnout reached 34 percent, according to figures provided by the judges.

El-Sissi won 96.9 percent of the vote in 2014, with official turnout of more than 47 percent.

Saadia Ali, a housewife and mother of five, said she came because she hopes things get better. "Just tell them that our houses are collapsing and on my street they are not doing anything to fix it.

"Why didn't they have more than one candidate?" she asked, after casting her vote.

At Saleh Hamad school in Shubra, only 3,500 of 12,000 eligible voters cast their votes by midday, or about 29 percent, polling judges there said. Christians make up a large portion of voters in the district. They constitute around 10 percent of Egypt's predominantly Muslim population.

Father Marcus Ibrahim, a Coptic Christian priest who brought his son with him, said the church told worshippers to go and vote without supporting a certain candidate.

"This is the only way for change. It's slow but it will happen as long as we keep participating. I brought my son and told him to sign the ballot and drop it in the box so he gets used to it.

"If there were more than one strong candidate, it would have been different for sure," he said. </s> A coalition of eight Egyptian opposition parties and 150 pro-democracy public figures have urged voters to boycott the March presidential election, saying it amounts to “absurdity bordering on madness”.

A coalition of eight Egyptian opposition parties and 150 pro-democracy public figures have urged voters to boycott the March presidential election, saying it amounts to “absurdity bordering on madness”.

The incumbent, general-turned-president Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, is virtually certain to win a second, four-year term in the March 26-28 vote, sweeping aside a little-known candidate whose last-minute participation in the poll spared the government the embarrassment of a single-candidate election. The call for a boycott by the Civilian Democratic Movement came just days after five opposition figures, including a 2012 presidential candidate and two top campaign aides for presidential hopeful Sami Annan, called on voters to stay away from ballot boxes and on Egyptians not to recognise the vote’s outcome.

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is virtually assured of a second term (AP) The ideology of the eight parties is rooted in the 2011 uprising that toppled the 29-year regime of autocrat Hosni Mubarak. They also supported the massive June 2013 protests against Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, which paved the way for the military’s removal of him the following month. Now, they and others are sidelined by Mr el-Sissi, who has in the last four years focused on containing an insurgency by Islamic militants and reviving a battered economy, while overseeing one of the largest crackdowns against dissent in the country’s living memory.

The parties have limited support on the ground, in large part due to restrictions on their activities placed by security agencies. Their call for a boycott, however, carries symbolic significance and could invite protest votes by the many Egyptians victimised by the soaring prices caused by el-Sissi’s ambitious economic reforms, or encourage voters to stay home, an easy option given that the incumbent is certain to retain his job until 2022.

Presidential candidate Moussa Osman Moussa of the Ghad, or Tomorrow, party (AP) The parties said their young members came up with the slogan “stay home” for their boycott campaign. Speakers for the parties did not say what they intend to do to make their call for a boycott effective, but they are helped by the country’s track record of extremely low turnout for referendums or elections whose outcome is a foregone conclusion. Mr el-Sissi, for his part, has in recent weeks repeatedly urged Egypt’s estimated 60 million registered voters to cast their ballots, suggesting that he needs a high turnout to grant credibility to the poll.

After a string of would-be challengers were arrested, forced out or quit the race, the prospect of a one-candidate election had cast a cloud over the election. Moussa Mustafa Moussa, a little-known politician and a staunch supporter of Mr el-Sissi, submitted his documents to be a would-be candidate on Monday, just minutes before the election commission’s deadline.
Minutes before the registration deadline, a second candidate, Moussa Mostafa Moussa, fulfills paperwork to participate in the 2018 presidential election. Leading opposition members called for a boycott, saying that a wave of repression has cleared the field of challengers to President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.