Egyptian oppositionist Ahmed Al-Tantawi... from journalism to the dream of the presidency

Ahmed Al-Tantawi obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce, specializing in Accounting, from Mansoura University in 2001 (French).

An Egyptian left-wing dissident, born in 1979, worked in journalism, was a founding member of the “Al-Karama” Party, served as a member of the House of Representatives from 2015-2020, and became prominent as an opponent of the regime of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

He lost his seat in the House of Representatives in 2020, and returned to the forefront in March 2023, when he announced his intention to run in the 2024 presidential elections, before withdrawing because he did not meet the conditions for candidacy.

An Egyptian court convicted him of circulating electoral process papers without the permission of the authorities, so it issued a decision on February 7, 2024, imprisoning him for one year, preventing him from running in parliamentary elections for a period of 5 years, and paying a fine.

Birth and upbringing

Ahmed Muhammad Ramadan Al-Tantawi was born on July 25, 1979 in the city of Qalin in Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate, northern Egypt. He was raised by his father, Muhammad Ramadan Al-Tantawi, a political activist and one of the most prominent faces of the Egyptian student movement during the 1960s.

Al-Tantawi lived his childhood and youth between the city of Qalin in the north and its affiliated Ezbet Al-Tantawi. Then, after completing his secondary education, he moved to reside in New Damietta and then Mansoura in northern Egypt.

Study and scientific training

He obtained a bachelor's degree in commerce, specializing in accounting, from Mansoura University in 2001, then obtained a master's degree in political science from Cairo University in 2013, and in 2022 he completed his pre-doctoral research in the Department of Politics and Economics at the Faculty of Higher African Studies at the same university.

Political experience

Ahmed Al-Tantawi initially practiced his political activity as a founding member of the “Al-Karama” Party in 2005, then he became the party’s secretary in the city of Qalin in 2009, and a member of the party’s supreme body in 2011.

He participated in the January 25, 2011 revolution, which overthrew President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, and announced his support for Hamdeen Sabahi’s candidacy for the presidency in 2012. He became Secretary-General of Mass Action and a member of the political bureau of the “Al-Karama” party in the same year, and then he was one of those who rejected the presidency of Mohamed Morsi. Due to the constitutional amendments at the time, he participated in the June 30 protests to oust Morsi in 2013.

He resigned from the "Al-Karama" party in 2014 without announcing the reason. He ran in the parliamentary elections in 2015 independently and won. During his parliamentary performance, he joined the "25-30" bloc opposed to the Egypt Support Alliance, which was the largest parliamentary bloc.

His star shone in political circles in 2016, coinciding with his discussions and positions with the Speaker of the Egyptian House of Representatives regarding the removal of parliamentary membership from former MP Tawfiq Okasha, on charges of normalization for receiving the Israeli ambassador at his home.

He was later known for many cases, most notably his attempt to stop the passage of the added tax law and his opposition to it. He also accused the government of submitting to the decisions of the International Monetary Fund.

Ahmed Al-Tantawi began his career as a journalist (his personal page on Facebook)

In 2017, he opposed the land border demarcation agreement between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which stipulated that Cairo cede the islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Riyadh. He accused the government of not respecting the constitution in approving it, and the representatives of “betraying their voters by giving up Egyptian land.”

Then he was referred to the Ethics Committee in Parliament after throwing the microphone on the ground during the discussion of the agreement, and directing a harsh criticism of the President of the Egyptian Geographical Society, who came to Parliament to prove Saudi Arabia’s right to the two islands.

He was one of those who rejected the Judicial Authority Law, which was adopted in April 2017, noting that the intent of the law was to exclude Chancellor Yahya Al-Dakrouri from the presidency of the State Council, after he ruled that the islands of Tiran and Sanafir belong to Egypt.

He opposed Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s candidacy for the presidency in 2018, describing the elections as “ridiculous,” and also criticized constitutional amendments that would allow Sisi to remain in power until 2030.

In 2019, he put forward a comprehensive reform initiative under the title “The Third Way,” and tried to participate in establishing a political and electoral alternative - which was not announced - to the government of Abdel Fattah El-Sisi under the name “Coalition of Hope.”

He lost his seat in the House of Representatives in the runoff elections in Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate for the Qalin district in 2020, despite his supporters saying that he received the highest votes in the district during the first round.

Documents were circulated that his supporters said proved his victory in the subcommittees, in contrast to the result announced by the General Committee in which the candidate of the “Future of the Nation” party won.

He won the presidency of the “Al-Karama” Movement Party by acclamation on December 25 of the same year in the party’s organizational session, which was called the “Course of Hope,” after he announced that he would resort to the legal path to challenge the result of the parliamentary elections, and entered the political arena under the banner of a new party.

Ahmed Al-Tantawi served as a member of the House of Representatives in the period (2015-2020) within the “25-30” parliamentary group (French)

He headed to the Lebanese capital, Beirut, in August 2022, and rumors spread stating that his travel was the result of his exposure to threats, and security directives to remove him from the political scene and prevent him from writing, and that he was forced to resign from the party on July 17 of the same year.

But Al-Tantawi denied in media statements that he had been threatened, and stated that he traveled for the purpose of studying and preparing himself scientifically and practically for a temporary period after which he would return to Egypt.

He returned to the political scene in 2023, and announced on March 22 his intention to return to Egypt to carry out his duty in providing a “civil democratic alternative,” as he described it, and confirmed his intention to run in the 2024 Egyptian presidential elections.

He accused the Egyptian security services of escalating "illegal actions" towards his election campaign, and announced that his phone had been targeted with spyware, which was revealed by the American newspaper "The Washington Post."

On October 13, 2023, he announced that he had collected only about half the number of proxies required to run, which removed him from the presidential race for the 2024 elections.

On November 7, 2023, he was referred to criminal trial on charges of “circulating election-related papers without the permission of the authorities.” On February 7, 2024, the court sentenced him to one year’s suspended imprisonment and a bail of 20,000 Egyptian pounds to temporarily suspend the sentence, and banned him from running in parliamentary elections for a period of 5 years.

The court also sentenced 21 other Egyptians who were in Tantawi's electoral campaign to one year in prison with "labor and enforceable labor."

Ahmed Al-Tantawi participated in the revolution of January 25, 2011 (European)

Jobs and responsibilities

Ahmed Al-Tantawi began his career in 2002 as director of a small company working in the field of computers and training. Then, in 2005, he founded the “Arab Dream” Charitable Society in the Qalin Center, and served as its founders’ agent and chairman of its board of directors until 2015.

He worked in the field of journalism, and joined the Journalists Syndicate in 2009. He also took over the political section in the party’s newspaper “Al-Karama” until 2012. He also assumed the position of deputy editor-in-chief of “Al-Dawla Al-Youm” newspaper in 2010, and presented talk shows for Egyptian channels during the period ( 2010-2011).

He held several responsibilities in the "Al-Karama" party, of which he was a founding member in 2005. He became the party's secretary in Qalin, south of Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate, in 2009, then a member of the party's political bureau in 2012 until his resignation in 2014. He was also one of the founding youth of the Egyptian Popular Movement, which he founded. Hamdeen Sabahi.

He served as a member of the House of Representatives during the period (2015-2020) as a member of the “25-30” parliamentary bloc, representing the Desouk and Qalin constituencies in Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate.

He won the presidency of the "Dignity" Movement Party by acclamation on December 25, 2020, in the party's organizational session, which he called the "Hope Session." Then, on July 17, 2022, he announced his resignation from his position.

Source: websites