Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has given yet another indication to his intention to run the upcoming presidential elections, reiterating that his nomination would be based on popular will.
“I had given unequivocal remarks concerning my nomination for presidency, which is connected to the people’s will,” Sisi said in a two-hour meeting on Sunday with a delegation from the Farmers Syndicate, led by its chairman, Osama al-Gahsh.
He recently stated that he cannot ignore popular calls demanding him to run for the post.
“I will yield to the will of the Egyptian people when taking my decision to run for presidency because Egyptians have endured injustice and found no one to show them compassion,” he said during the meeting.
The general who ousted Mohamd Morsy from presidency last year, and whose nomination is almost certain after the approval of the election law and the army’s declared backing, said his country “had been a targeted from other countries, and had been in economic suffering since 1967,” stressing that the focus over the coming period should be on increased production. He added that Egyptians deserve to retain their dignity and that Egypt should not borrow from other countries.
Egypt had received $7 billion of financial and in-kind aid from Gulf states since Morsy’s ouster.
Sisi, however, pointed that citizens should be candidly told that “the country will not move forward relying on a specific person, but rather with collective participation.”
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
