A busy carrying a poster of former presidential hopeful Hamdeen Sabahi during his campaign in 2012 (Photo: Al-Ahram)
Supporters of Nasserist politician Hamdeen Sabahi and members of his Egyptian Popular Current group will take to the streets on Saturday to form human chains, marking the beginning of his official presidential campaign.
"The move which is expected to be a strong declaration of support for Hamdeen Sabbahi, which will witness the chanting of slogans from both the 25 January [2011] and the 30 June [2013] revolutions," according to the Popular Current's official Facebook page.
The demonstrations are scheduled to start at 4pm at locations across Egypt’s governorates, including six locations in Cairo.
Sabahi, a leftist politician who was jailed several times under Hosni Mubarak, was the first person to announce that he would definitely be running in this summer’s presidential election.
He was followed by former military chief Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, who announced that he was resigning from his military position in order to run for president in a speech on Wednesday. Rallies in support of El-Sisi, who is widely expected to win, were also held on Friday.
Sabbahi said on Thursday on his official Twitter account that he welcomes El-Sisi's candidacy, adding that he "looks forward to democratic, fair and transparent elections that guarantee the impartiality of the state and the people's right to choose a president with their free will."
He expressed his confidence about his chances in the race, saying "the presidential elections aren't as decisively in favour of Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.”
Sabahi came in third in the 2012 presidential elections, which were won by the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi.
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