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US scholar says Egypt's history may encourage Al-Sisi to run for presidency

February 3, 2014 at 11:17 am

Eric Trager, an American scholar and fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy specializing in Egyptian politics, said that one thing that may encourage Egypt’s Defence Minister General Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to run for presidency “is the fact that every new Egyptian president since Anwar Sadat has ultimately fired the defence minister as a way of removing a potential political threat.”

 

 


Speaking to the Jerusalem Post, Trager pointed out how Al-Sisi may think that “based on history, if he does not become president, he may be out of a job before long.”

 

The story was published under the title “Egypt’s Al-Sisi pushed to run for president as media bolsters his image.” The newspaper suggests that Al-Sisi “looks to be a front runner in the Egyptian presidential elections scheduled for next year,” even though he has not yet officially announced whether he will be running.

Failed presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq has already stated that he would back Al-Sisi if he decided to run for president, and former Arab League chief Amr Moussa, who also unsuccessfully ran for president last year, commented that Al-Sisi would win by a landslide.

According to the newspaper, “Since the coup against the Muslim Brotherhood on July 3 which brought him to power, Al-Sisi has enjoyed positive media coverage and public support, and according to a report in the Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm this month, a campaign is underway to gather 30 million signatures endorsing him for president.”