President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a former army commander who has been in power for almost ten years, has already published words of support from pro-government organisations in state-aligned media.
Egypt hold presidential December: After helping to overthrow elected Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2014, Sisi, 68, won his first election that year. He later defeated one of his own supporters in a landslide in 2018 and won his second election that year.
Only two other candidates, including opposition politician Ahmed al-Tantawi, who has long complained about harassment by security personnel, have announced their intention to run this time.
At first, spring 2024 was predicted as the election’s season.
According to some analysts, it was planned ahead of a potential changeover to a flexible currency rate that may worsen socioeconomic tensions in the 105 million-person nation.
Judge Walid Hassan Hamza, the head of the National Election Authority, said that the election would take place “on December 10, 11, and 12.”
Interested parties may apply starting in October, and the candidate list will be finalised on November 9. The winner will be announced on December 18 after the campaign period ends on November 29.
allegations of harassment
There have already been allegations of intimidation and suppression of other candidates in the approaching election.
According to rights organisations, at least 35 of Tantawi’s supporters have been imprisoned.
The former lawmaker claims that since September 2021, his phone has been tapped. The attack was traced to the Egyptian government “with high confidence” by the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto.
The president of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, Farid Zahran, has also declared his candidature.
In order to achieve “democratic elections that could aid in selecting the right candidate to lead Egypt out of the economic crisis caused by the ruling government,” he has called for “guarantees.”
According to his Free Current political party, opposition leader Hisham Kassem had also been “a potential presidential candidate” last week.
However, a six-month prison term for slander and governmental disobedience prevents him from running.
economic downturn
Since early last year, Egypt has struggled with its greatest economic crisis ever.
A series of devaluations since March 2022 have caused the currency to lose half of its value, driving up consumer prices in the import-dependent economy.
Last year, Egypt secured an IMF loan of $3 billion. The condition for this loan was the implementation of “a permanent shift to a flexible exchange rate regime.”
Since January, the government has maintained a fixed exchange rate of about 31 Egyptian pounds to one US dollar.
However, despite a severe foreign dollar scarcity, prices have continued to soar. This is because of a booming parallel currency market.
For the third consecutive month, annual inflation rose to an all-time high of 39.7% in August.
Sisi’s government has proposed several social safety measures in an effort to soften the blow. They have also suggested increases to the minimum wage.