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Former Egyptian general Sami Anan to challenge Sisi in presidential election
A former senior Egyptian army general has announced he will run against President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in this year’s presidential election, days after another high-profile contender pulled out.
Sami Anan, the former military chief of staff, plans to stand in the elections in March and is expected to formally announce his candidacy on Saturday.
Mr Anan led the Egyptian military from 2005 to 2012 and is well known in Egypt as part of the military junta which ruled the country after the 2011 revolution which overthrew longtime president Hosni Mubarak.
He was forced into retirement in 2012 by Mohammed Morsi, the country’s elected Muslim Brotherhood.
The former general went on to form the Arabism Egypt Party and he now intends to stand against his former army colleague, Mr Sisi.
Mr Sisi’s authoritarian government has cracked down on dissent and many expect the March elections to be a highly-choreographed process which ends in the president’s overwhelming re-election.
But analysts said that Mr Anan was well-known in Egypt and more than just a token opposition candidate.
"Sami Anan isn't an insignificant figure - he has a certain type of name recognition and elements in the establishment respect him as a former very senior military figure. But that does not translate into him being a serious challenger in these elections for Sisi,” said Dr HA Hellyer, senior nonresident fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) thinktank.
“He is also not known as a Sisi ally who is simply going into the elections to present a challenge for the sake of it.”
Another contender, former prime minister Ahmed Shafik, dropped out the race this week after a bizarre episode where he briefly disappeared after returning to Egypt from exile in the UAE.
Khaled Ali, a 45-year-old human rights lawyer, said he would stay in the race despite being charged with public indecency for an allegedly rude hand gesture. If he is convicted he will be disqualified from the election.
“We will not turn our back on this battle at a time like this,” he said.
Election regulations stipulate that would-be candidates must obtain the backing of at least 20 members of parliament for their candidacy or be supported by at least 25,000 eligible voters in at least 15 governorates.
ENDS