Sabahi announces presidential bid

Cairo: Egypt’s prominent leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi has said he will run for president in this spring’s presidential vote expected to be swept by the widely popular army chief Abdul Fattah Al Sissi.

“Citizen Hamdeen Sabahi has decided to run in the next presidential elections. This is my personal decision, but the final decision will be taken by the Popular Current,” Sabahi told a Cairo rally Saturday night, referring to his bloc. Sabahi came third in Egypt’s first democratic polls held in 2012. Sources inside the Popular Current said the coalition will meet later this week to decide on Sabahi’s nomination.

“I was at a loss over whether to run or not, but I have finally taken the side of the youth,” said Sabahi at the rally held to commemorate two young activists killed during last year’s unrest when the now-toppled Islamist president Mohammad Mursi.

Sabahi, 59, is popular with young revolutionaries disappointed at Mursi’s one-year rule and worried about the military’s return to power.

Al Sissi, who led Mursi’s overthrow in July, is anticipated to officially announce his bid for presidency later this month. Many Egyptians view Al Sissi as able to end the chaos that has hit Egypt since a 2011 uprising forced former president, an ex-air force commander, to step down.

Sabahi, a staunch opponent of Mubarak, vowed not to ally with the Mubarak-era figures or Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood. “The decision (to run) is not mine. It belongs to the youth and my partners,” he told an enthusiastic audience. “We love you, president Sabahi!” chanted his supporters as they carried him on shoulders and waved his pictures.

Following the military’s ouster of Mursi, Sabahi said he would not run for president if Al Sissi nominated himself. The army ruled Egypt since the early 1950s and until Mubarak’s removal.