Egypt: 2 candidates to run for presidency

Egypt's election commission said only two candidates, one of them former army chief and Defense Minister Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, will run in next month's presidential election. Sisi will face leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi as they were the only candidates to submit their papers to run in the polls, the commission said on Sunday, press tv reported.   On Saturday, Sabahi formally submitted the required documents to the electoral commission after he managed to gather 31,555 signatures from Egyptian citizens endorsing his candidacy. The politician finished third in the 2012 presidential election, which was won by ousted President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood party. Sisi, who led the military deposal of Mursi in July 2013, is widely expected to win the presidential vote scheduled to be held on May 26-27. Egypt’s ex-army chief submitted his documents on April 12 after gathering 188,930 signatures of support, well above the required 25,000, the election commission said. Political parties and figures in Egypt have repeatedly called on the country’s army to stay out of politics. The Muslim Brotherhood holds Sisi responsible for masterminding Mursi’s removal. Sisi is also accused of leading a severe crackdown against supporters of Mursi and the Brotherhood movement. Anti-government demonstrators in Egypt have been holding rallies almost on a daily basis since the army toppled Mursi, calling for the former president’s reinstatement. Egypt’s military-backed government has launched a bloody crackdown on Mursi’s supporters and arrested thousands of Muslim Brotherhood members, including the party’s senior leaders. Human rights groups say as many as 1,400 people have been killed in the political violence that erupted following Mursi’s ouster.