Cairo: Prominent Egyptian rights lawyer Khalid Ali Monday evening said he will run in next year’s presidential elections, challenging a likely bid by President Abdul Fatah Al Sissi for a second term.
“Today, I announce my candidacy for the presidential elections,” he told a press conference at the opposition party Al Destur in Cairo.
“I am preparing to launch my election campaign and an electoral programme that will be put forward for discussion. I’ll work with political powers to wrest guarantees for fair presidential elections,” he added without details.
Ali is an outspoken critic of the administration of Al Sissi, who has been ruling Egypt since mid-2014.
“Egypt is living a political crisis. The old and the young people are living in crises in view of the collapse of the system,” the 45-year-old leftist said.
He accused the police of storming a printing press and seizing material for Monday’s press conference. There was no immediate comment from police.
Al Sissi has not yet formally said he will seek a second term in office. But he is widely expected to run in the elections anticipated next May.
Ali unsuccessfully ran in the 2012 presidential vote won by Mohammad Mursi of the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
Ali’s presidential bid is still legally at stake. In September, a court sentenced him to three months in prison on charges of making an indecent hand gesture in public months earlier. The court ordered him to pay a fine of 1,000 Egyptian pounds (Dh 208) to stay outside the prison pending his appeal.
A higher court is due on Wednesday to start hearing the appeal. If the ruling is upheld, Ali could be disqualified from running in the coming elections.
