Egypt’s April 6 Movement backs rights lawyer in 2018 presidential elections

Egypt’s April 6 Youth Movement has announced its support for the human rights lawyer, Khaled Ali, in his bid to become president in next year’s election, the group announced on Facebook.

“Egypt has witnessed the worst presidential term in its modern history under the rule of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi,” the political movement said on social media.

April 6 pointed out that its support for Ali aims at “unifying Egyptians against the current regime and to enable them to elect a president who represents the public.”

“Egypt has been suffering on the political level as Al-Sisi has been blindly following the Gulf states’ instructions,” the movement noted, adding: “Most recently, he [Sisi] surrendered the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir without consulting the Egyptians.”

On an economic level, the movement added, Egyptian citizens lost 50 per cent of the value of their savings following the floatation of the Egyptian pound under the pretext of attracting foreign investment. “The government is just following the International Monetary Fund’s instructions,” the opposition group said.

Early November, Ali announced that he would run for the 2018 presidential elections against Al-Sisi, who was reported to have planned to bid for a second term.

Read: As presidential elections loom Sisi moves to control judiciary

Speaking at a press conference held at the headquarters of Al-Dostour Party, Ali declared that he has started a nationwide campaign to prepare for the upcoming presidential election in 2018.

Last August, Al-Sisi ratified the Law No. 198 of 2017 on the formation of a National Electoral Commission to oversee and monitor the 2018 presidential elections.

Ali is currently the only candidate standing in opposition to Al-Sisi. The nephew of former Egyptian President, Mohamed Anwar Sadat, said earlier that he would participate in the upcoming presidential election if there is “an integral and transparent process” put in place.

In addition, the former presidential candidate, Ahmed Shafik, was reported by local media to have announced his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election. The move was refused by Al-Sisi.