(Photo handout from Al-Tayar Al-Shaaby)
By Yasmin Sameh
The Tamarod movement (Rebellion) and Al-Tayar Al-Sha’aby (Popular Current) have announced their support for Field Marshal Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Hamdeen Sabahy, respectively, as candidates for the presidency.
During a meeting between the Al-Tayar Al-Sha’aby board of trustees Monday, the majority voted to accept Sabahy’s decision to run for president.
Media spokeswoman for Al-Tayar Al-Sha’aby Heba Yassin said 45 members voted to accept the decision, three voted against and one voted to postpone it.
Yassin said Al-Tayar Al-Sha’aby plans to hold a press conference to reveal reasons for their support of Sabahy.
In late November, the Tamarod movement announced its split into a movement and a campaign, with the latter of the two later confirming its support of Al-Sisi following a vote among its members.
According to a statement released on the movement’s official website, Mahmoud Badr, one of its founders, announced his support for Al-Sisi and asserted that the decision had not caused a rift between members of the movement.
Tamarod spokesman for Daqahleya Mohammed Hassan said that among the movement’s 18 headquarters in the governorate, “99.1% support Al-Sisi”, adding that the “public demands” that he run for president.
Hassan added that although he supports Al-Sisi he is also in favour of “[Hamdeen Sabahy] running because it will increase the momentum of the electoral process.”
Al-Tayar Al-Sha’aby was formed by former presidential candidate and Nasserist Hamdeen Sabahy in 2012 to advocate the 25 January Revolution’s goals of freedom, social justice and the dignity of Egyptians.
Tamarod is a grassroots movement that petitioned to oust former president Mohamed Morsi in June 2013, following his year in power. The petition had begun on social media websites before garnering enough attention to gain the support of the army and remove the former president.
