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| Africa North |
| Egypt army chief El-Sisi pushed towards presidential run |
| 2013-10-01 |
| [Al Ahram] With the popularity of Egypt's armed forces chief General Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi at a peak, speculation is growing about whether the military leader could be the next president. How about "If nominated, I won't run. If elected, I won't serve"? Talk shows and newspaper columns have, for the past month, been advocating the idea of the general running for president in order to fight the terrorist threat that they say the country is facing. Yeah, yeah. Wasn't Mubarak a general before he became president-for-life? El-Sisi became a worldwide name in July when he announced that Islamist president Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Timeprinciple, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... was being removed from power after mass protests against the unpopular elected leader. El-Sisi stressed that the action was not a military coup and that the military was merely acting to safeguard the popular revolution. An interim president -- Judge Adly Mansour -- was swiftly appointed. Recently, a number of campaigns have been launched calling on the general, who is also defence minister, to run for presidency in the elections slated for early next year. The campaigns are called "Complete your favour," "A nation's demand" and "El-Sisi for president." Those behind them plan to gather signatures in order to press El-Sisi, who has said he has no desire to govern, to run. The "El-Sisi for president" campaign claims to be the first campaign in Egypt calling for the popular general to become head of state. It also claims that it has printed two million petitions and set up 25 campaign offices in Europe and in Middle Eastern countries. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 But he will refuse---at least twice. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2013-10-01 08:18 |