In this Thursday, July 18, 2013, photo released by the Egyptian Presidency, Egypt’s interim President Adly Mansour makes his first address to the nation since taking his post after the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in Cairo, Egypt. (AP Photo/Egyptian Presidency)
London, Asharq Al-Awsat—Egyptian interim president Adly Mansour will not stand in presidential elections scheduled for next year, according to Kuwait’s Al-Seyassah newspaper.
Responding to a question as to whether he intends to run in next year’s presidential elections, Mansour said: “No. . . No, I will return to my office and work at the constitutional court. I became interim president of Egypt based on the provisions of the law and constitution, and I respect the provisions of the law and constitution.”
This is the first official statement by the interim president regarding his future plans.
Mansour was sworn in as interim president on July 4, just one day after the Egyptian military ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi following nationwide protests against his rule. Mansour took the newly vacated post of president based on constitutional provisions which named chief of Egypt’s constitution court as head of state. However, Mansour himself had only just been appointed president of the country’s top judicial body.
Presidential elections are scheduled to take place in Egypt later next year, following a national referendum on a draft constitution and parliamentary elections. If everything goes according to schedule, presidential elections are expected to take place in the summer of 2014.
While no senior Egyptian politicians have yet announced their intention to run in the forthcoming presidential elections, speculation continues to surround a possible presidential bid by army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi. A popular campaign is currently under way in Egypt seeking to gather a petition of 50 million signatures calling on Sisi, who is also the defense minister, to run in the presidential elections. At last count, the Kamel Gmeilak (“Complete the Favor”) campaign claimed to have gathered more than 15 million signatures.
In other news, Cairo braced for protests on Tuesday to mark the second anniversary of deadly anti-military protests in 2011. The six days of clashes—which began on Mohamed Mahmoud Street, close to Cairo’s Tahrir Square—resulted in the deaths of 47 people across Egypt as demonstrators protested the rule of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
Two years later, the political balance in the country has changed so much that both the Muslim Brotherhood and the Tamarod campaign—two groups at opposite ends of the political spectrum—are claiming the right to commemorate the bloody protests.