Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, in power in Egypt since he overthrew the Islamist Mohamed Morsi in 2013, announced on Monday evening, October 2, to run for the presidential election in December, an election against a backdrop of economic crisis that promises to be more difficult than the previous ones.

At the end of a conference during which he held "ten years of success", he said he wanted to "run to continue dreaming with a new mandate". I invite "all voters to vote, even if it is not for me," he added.

While his competitors denounced "attacks" against their supporters, thousands of people supporting the head of state had been transported by bus to squares in all major cities, and their jubilation was broadcast live on the stage where Abdel Fattah al-Sisi spoke.

See alsoPresidential election in Egypt: vote announced for December, opposition under pressure

"We all took to the streets to support President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for his big projects, there is no one better for the future," Hassan Afifi, a teacher who came with his students to a Cairo square, told AFP.

In 2014 and 2018, President-candidate Sisi won with 96% and then 97% of the vote in the face of an opposition either crushed by relentless repression or puppet.

Even if experts do not doubt his victory, the candidacies of opponents who directly attack the president and the powerful army from which he comes are multiplying, a fact unprecedented since he took power.

Ahmed al-Tantawy seeks 25,000 signatures from citizens

The relatives of several leaders of historic parties claim to have collected the 20 signatures of MPs necessary to run for the supreme office.

A 44-year-old former MP accustomed to anti-Sisi outings, Ahmed al-Tantawy, has chosen to collect citizens' signatures. He needs 25,000 to validate his candidacy and, for the past week, he has been crisscrossing the country to accompany his supporters who will register the signatures in the administrations.

He claimed that his phone had been tapped, dozens of his supporters had been arrested, and his campaign team announces every day that signatures are being refused or supporters are being attacked.

See alsoEgypt: Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in power for ten years, freedom of expression stifled

"Be careful, the pressure (...), it's dangerous. We call everyone to reason, but that doesn't mean that in the end they will be able to tell us, 'Sorry, you don't have enough signatures,'" he warned.

Videos of his supporters chanting slogans in the streets in a country where protest is banned, his interviews with independent media and his insistence on campaigning for the "rule of law" are new in Egypt, where public debate has been reduced to nothing since 2013.

"I am shocked, he offers us famine"

Opposite, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is putting himself to a vote for the third time – the last according to the constitution he had amended in 2019 to be able to run again and extend his mandate from four to six years.

He warned on Saturday the 105 million Egyptians, already strangled by inflation at 40% and a devaluation of 50%, that they had to make "sacrifices". "If construction, development and progress are to come at the cost of hunger and deprivation, never say, 'We'd rather have food,'" he said.

Social networks, where Egyptians have long been careful not to be too virulent as arrests for online writings have multiplied, immediately ignited.

"I am shocked, he offers us famine," denounces a user. "Normally, we make electoral promises, even lies, he, he promises famine," said another.

On Sunday, another of his statements caused a scandal: "I can destroy the country (...) with 100,000 poor people if I give them a bar of shit, 1,000 Egyptian pounds and Tramadol stamps." An outing that reminded Egyptians of the "revolution" of 2011 when the regime mobilized henchmen to attack protesters.

The authorities have brought forward the presidential election by several months to be able to proceed in its wake, according to experts, to a new devaluation.

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi claims to have defeated "terrorism" and made "development" his priority. Economists, for their part, denounce pharaonic megaprojects – new cities including the new capital, high-speed trains, bridges and roads – which have only siphoned off state coffers and tripled debt.

With AFP

The summary of the weekFrance 24 invites you to look back on the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news with you everywhere! Download the France 24 app