Leftist leader registers for Egypt presidential polls

Presidential hopeful leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahy, who finished a strong third in the first round of the last presidential election, in June 2012, greets his supporters outside the election commission office in Cairo, Egypt, on Saturday.

Egypt’s leftist leader Hamdeen Sabahy Saturday officially registered for running in the presidential elections slated for late May, his spokesperson said.

“We submitted to the election commission on Saturday 30,000 popular supporting statements from 17 governorates across Egypt to officially register Mr. Sabahy as a presidential candidate,” Xinhua quoted the spokesperson as saying.

Egypt’s presidential election law requires at least 25,000 statements from citizens who support the candidate in at least 15 governorates nationwide.

Although Mr. Sabahy was the first to announce his intention to compete in the upcoming presidential race, he was the second to have officially registered for the race after former military chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi.

Mr. Sabahy’s bid is seen as a challenge for Mr. Sisi who enjoys massive popularity since he led the ouster of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsy last July.

Many experts expect Mr. Sisi to garner an easy win in the presidential election slated for May 26 and 27.