File photo: Egypt's former army chief of staff Sami Anan speaks during a news conference at his office in Cairo, March 13, 2014. REUTERS
Former Egyptian military chief of staff Sami Anan is willing to run for Egypt’s upcoming presidential elections, the Arabism Egypt Party, which he founded, announced on Thursday.
The ballot is scheduled for March 26-28, officials announced on Monday.
Would-be candidates will be able to submit their applications to the National Electionsl Authority from 20 to 29 January.
Anan is the second presidential hopeful to announce his intention to stand, after leftist lawyer, labour activist, and former presidential candidate Khaled Ali said at a press conference on Thursday that he intended to be on the ballot.
President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi received nearly 97 percent of the vote in the 2014 presidential election, a two-man contest with leftist Hamdeen Sabahi. El-Sisi, whose first term ends in June, has not yet declared his intention to run, but over 500 MPs, including House speaker Ali Abdel-Aal, have signed endorsements calling for him to run.
To qualify, presidential candidates must secure either the support of 20 MPs, or 25,000 voters spread from at least 15 different governorates.
Sami Hafez Anan, 69, was military chief of staff from 2005 until his retirement was announced by former president Mohamed Morsi on 12 August 2012.
The Arabism Egypt Party, founded by Anan in 2014, failed to secure any seats in the 2015 parliamentary elections.
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