An Egyptian pro-military group on Monday resumed its campaign to collect signatures in support of electing Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), as president.
Members of the Egypt Above All Coalition, the group running the campaign, hung fliers in Cairo's Ramses Square. The campaign started collecting signatures in other provinces last month.
Mahmoud Atteya, the group's general coordinator, said they decided to launch their activities from Ramses Square because it contains Egypt's main railway station and several bus stops. Atteya said his coalition believes Ramses Square is more popular than Tahrir Square, adding that nearly 6 million people pass through Ramses each day.
The campaign has collected many signatures across several governorates, according to Atteya, including 28,000 in Fayoum, 18,000 in Sharqiya, 23,000 in Sohag and 40,000 in Daqahlia. He expressed hope that the group would collect one million signatures before presidential elections.
Many activists object to electing a military leader as president. Activists were alarmed in September when Tantawi walked through downtown Cairo and shook hands with passersby; he wore plain clothes and moved through the square without a security detail. Some interpreted the move as an attempt to bolster his popularity before announcing his intention to run for president.
Tantawi maintains that the military will not field a candidate in upcoming presidential elections.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
