Election campaigning officially starts in Egypt

MENA

Published: 2018-02-24 16:07

Last Updated: 2024-03-28 21:09


A picture shows a poster for Al-Sisi's campaign
A picture shows a poster for Al-Sisi's campaign

Campaigning began on Saturday for Egypt’s presidential election. There is a great possibility that the current President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi will be reelected, in the absence of a serious challenger in the two-candidate race.

Sisi will face Musa Mustafa, the head of the liberal el-Ghad party, after other candidates either withdrew or were arrested before the March 26-28 elections.

A coalition of eight opposition parties called for the boycott of the highly controversial election earlier in January by calling it a “Charade”.

Egyptian National Election Authority has urged the media to be neutral, and has banned government officials from "trying to influence the outcome of the election, positively or negatively".

The Authority has set a cap of EGP 20 million ($1.3 million) on campaign financing for each candidate during the first election round. Contributions can only be made by individuals and cannot go over 2 percent of the total campaign fund.

The decision also criminalized foreign funding in an attempt to fight potential meddling in the presidential election.