CAIRO: Three senior Egyptian politicians on Saturday said a prominent rights lawyer would challenge President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in next year’s elections.
They said that Khaled Ali would announce his candidacy on Monday.
The politicians are close to Ali and have been directly involved in months-long consultations between him and leaders of secular democratic parties on fielding a joint candidate against El-Sisi.
They spoke to the Associated Press (AP) on condition of anonymity because Ali has not yet made an official announcement.
El-Sisi, who led the 2013 ouster of an Islamist president, has yet to formally announce he will run for a second, four-year term, although his candidacy is a virtual foregone conclusion and is almost assured of winning.
El-Sisi is a former military commander elected by a landslide in 2014 and presents himself as a bulwark against militancy.
Ali, however, could provide a test of El-Sisi’s popularity at a time of deep economic hardships.
Egyptian forces have been fighting several armed groups, mostly in the northern part of the Sinai peninsula, since the overthrow of President Mohammed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013.
In the last election, El-Sisi won about 97 percent of the vote on a turnout of 47.5 percent, after voting was extended for a day. This time, his backers want to show his legitimacy not been tarnished by economic and security problems.
“The issue is not whether El-Sisi will win the 2018 election; rather, it is about how much interest and buzz can be generated about the process,” said H.A. Hellyer, a senior non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council.
El-Sisi has inaugurated mega infrastructure projects he promised would turn around the economy, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has praised the progress of measures it has backed that are meant to curb deficits and create long-term growth.
‘Rights lawyer to run against El-Sisi in 2018 vote’
‘Rights lawyer to run against El-Sisi in 2018 vote’
