The chairman of the liberal Wafd Party, El-Sayed El-Badawi, underwent on Friday the medical examination required for those who are seeking to become candidates in the March presidential elections, pending a final decision by the party's higher commission on fielding a candidate in the election.

The examination took place at the state medical council in Sheikh Zayed, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.

The deadline for medical exams for potential candidates is Sunday.

The Wafd, which is the country's oldest political party, currently holds the third largest number of seats in Egypt's parliament, 46, after the Free Egyptians Party and the Future of a Homeland party.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi is the only potential candidate so far who has submitted the required endorsement forms and has undergone the required medical exam for candidacy.

Yasser El-Houdeiby, a deputy head of the Wafd Party, explained to Al-Ahram Arabic news website that the party's higher commission agreed in a meeting on Thursday to ask El-Badawi to apply for the medical check-up, but that does not necessarily mean that the party head will put his candidacy forward.

The move, El-Hodeiby explained, is aimed to ensure El-Badawi a place as a potential presidential candidate before the medical examination period closes on Sunday.

Suleiman Wahdan, a senior Wafd MP and deputy speaker of parliament, told Ahram Online that the party's higher commission is set to meet again on Saturday to decide on the matter.

There are a large number of members of the higher commission who want El-Badawi to run, but there others who are strongly opposed, El-Houdeiby told Al-Ahram Arabic.

He added that though all indicators suggest that President El-Sisi will comfortably win the 26-28 March vote, the Wafd intends to carry out a respectful election battle.

The deadline for submitting necessary documents to become a candidate in the presidential elections is Monday 29 January.

Who is El-Sayed El-Badawi?

El-Badawi was born in 1950 in the city of Tanta in the central Nile Delta.

He graduated from the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Alexandria in 1973.

El-Badawi joined the Wafd Party in 1983 and has served as the party's chairman since 2010.

He is a wealthy businessman with large investments in the pharmaceutical industry and in Egyptian television.

He is currently the CEO of Sigma Pharmaceuticals and Al-Hayat TV channels.

In 2013, El-Badawi served on the 50-member committee which drafted Egypt's new constitution following the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.

Read more