Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2025 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Democracy
Egyptian opposition call for boycotting presidential elections

Egyptian opposition call for boycotting presidential elections

Juan Cole 01/31/2018

Tweet
Share
Reddit
Email

Middle East Monitor | – –

Egyptian former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi called today for boycotting the country’s upcoming presidential elections due in March.

Speaking at a press conference held at the opposition Dignity Party headquarters in the capital Cairo, Sabahi called for the formation of a “unified coalition” to boycott the elections.

“These are not elections; there are no guarantees, no candidates, and no freedoms,” Sabahi said, adding: “There can be no elections without candidates and without guarantees.”

The former 2014 presidential candidate described the elections as a “farce and absurdity.”

Sabahy, who finished a distant second behind the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in the 2014 presidential election, called on other pro-democracy groups to join the coalition. “Come and let us stand together,” he said

“This is a moment when the people will make their say known and, God willing, the say of the people will prevail,” the Egyptian politician pointed out.

Read More: France: Syria peace process should begin under UN in Geneva, not Sochi

The press conference was attended by representatives from various Egyptian political parties, including the leftist Egyptian Social Democratic party, Constitution Party, the Dignity Party, the Socialist Popular Alliance Party, the Freedom Party and the leftist under-construction Bread and Freedom Party.

The parties said that their young members came up with the slogan “stay home” for the boycotting campaign.

Egyptian elections typically attract low turnout, particularly when the outcome is a foregone conclusion. Al-Sisi has repeatedly urged Egypt’s estimated 60 million registered voters to cast ballots.

After a string of would-be challengers were arrested, forced out or quit the race, the prospect of a virtual referendum — not unlike those held by autocratic rulers in the past — had clouded the election.

On Monday, a little known politician and a staunch supporter, Moussa Mustafa Moussa, submitted his documents Monday, just minutes before the election commission’s deadline. Moussa is the leader of the Ghad, or Tomorrow, party, which does not have a single seat in parliament.

The country’s national election authority, independent judicial body which regulates the electoral process, said yesterday that both Al-Sisi and Moussa had met the requirements and declared them official candidates.

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Via Middle East Monitor

——

Bonus video via Informed Comment:

AfricaNews: “Egyptian opposition leaders call for presidential election boycott”

Filed Under: Democracy, Dissent, Egypt, Elections

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

Primary Sidebar

Support Independent Journalism

Click here to donate via PayPal.

Personal checks should be made out to Juan Cole and sent to me at:

Juan Cole
P. O. Box 4218,
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548
USA
(Remember, make the checks out to “Juan Cole” or they can’t be cashed)

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter to have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.
Warning! Social media will not reliably deliver Informed Comment to you. They are shadowbanning news sites, especially if "controversial."
To see new IC posts, please sign up for our email Newsletter.

Social Media

Bluesky | Instagram

Popular

  • Israel's Netanyahu banks on TACO Trump as he Launches War on Iran to disrupt Negotiations
  • A Pariah State? Western Nations Sanction Israeli Cabinet Members
  • Israel: Will Ultra-Orthodox Jews' Opposition to Conscription Bring down Netanyahu's Gov't
  • Women's Cancer Rates are Rising in the Oil Gulf: is Global Heating causing it?
  • Threat to Rule of Law: Sen. Padilla thrown to Ground, Cuffed at Noem DHS Press Conference

Gaza Yet Stands


Juan Cole's New Ebook at Amazon. Click Here to Buy
__________________________

Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires



Click here to Buy Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam


Click here to Buy The Rubaiyat.
Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2025 All Rights Reserved