Cairo: Egypt’s widely popular army chief Abdul Fattah Al Sisi, who deposed the country’s first democratically elected president earlier this year, must be obliged by a court order to run for president, a lawyer has said.
“The current stage requires that Egypt’s new president should have a wide experience, an inspiring background and massive popularity, characteristics that are already available in General Al Sisi,” added Lotfy Jaid, who filed a lawsuit requesting the military strongman to nominate himself in next year’s presidential elections.
“All political factions agree on the personality and integrity of Gen. Al Sisi, especially after he fully sided with the people following the June 30 revolution,” Jaid was quoted as saying by the independent newspaper Al Youm Al Saba on Monday. Al Sisi led the military’s overthrow of president Mohammad Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood on July 3 following enormous street protests against the Islamist leader’s one-year-old rule.
No date has been set to a court hearing of Jaid’s suit.
Al Sisi, who was appointed as defence minister by Mursi last year, is under growing pressure from his backers to run for president in the elections expected to be held in mid-2014. Several campaigns are under way collecting petitions from the public for Al Sisi to stand for president.
Several presidential hopefuls have said they would not stand if Al Sisi decided to run, predicting he will win by a landslide.
In a recent interview, Al Sisi, 59, kept the possibility of making a presidential bid open amid muted opposition from pro-democracy secularists, who fear such a bid would mean the military’s return to power.
Demonised by Mursi’s supporters, Al Sisi is idolized by many Egyptians as a national hero. The general’s photos have recently appeared on pyjamas and candy in local stores.
