Al-Sisi needs 3 million votes to win Egyptian elections

Mahmoud Al-Sherif, a spokesman for the National Elections Commission in Egypt, has told Al-Masry Al-Youm that only one person – current President Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi – had submitted his candidacy to the commission so far.

They are waiting until the closure of submissions, next Monday at 2pm, to prepare the official list of candidates.

Al-Sherif confirmed that even if there is only one candidate the elections will go ahead according to the 2014 Presidential Elections Law.

“If the presidential elections include only one candidate, the law stipulates that he has to obtain five per cent of the votes of people who have the right to vote, which are the votes that are registered in the voters’ database, about 3 million,” said Al-Sherif.

Read: Leading US Senator criticises Sisi for political crackdown in Egypt

If the candidate does not get five per cent of the votes the commission will run another election within 15 days.

Al-Sisi is the last man standing in the election race after pressuring his opponents to stand down. His biggest threat, former chief of staff of the armed forces, Sami Anan was detained on Tuesday and hasn’t been seen since.

Former Prime Minister of Egypt Ahmed Shafik and former MP Muhammed Anwar Al-Sadat were both harassed and pressured to withdraw their election bids.

On Wednesday lawyer Khaled Ali declared in a press conference that he would not be running for president after security forces arrested members of his team.

Sisi announces date for presidential elections – Cartoon [Alaraby.co.uk]