Egypt’s Thirteen Presidential Candidates

Who will she vote for? None of the 13 candidates are likely to get the required 50 percent of the vote tomorrow and Thursday, so run-off elections are scheduled for next month.

In honor of the Egyptian presidential elections I’ve updated the Who’s Who page with brief bios of those candidates not already listed there. But to save you the trouble of paging through all those entries, I’m posting just the 13 presidential candidates here.

None of the 13 candidates is likely to top 50 percent in voting today or tomorrow, so a runoff vote is scheduled for June 16-17. The new president will be announced June 21.

And the candidates are:

Abul-Futuh, Abdel-Moneim. A doctor, activist, long-time opponent of the Sadat and Mubarak regimes, and ong time member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s guidance council, Abdel Moneim Abul-Futuh, 60, broke with the organization in 2011 when he announced his presidential candidacy. He has run as a middle-of-the-road candidate and attracted the largest number of expatriate votes.

Al-Awa, Mohammed Salim. Former Secretary General of the International Union for Muslim Scholars based in London, and head of the Egyptian Association for Culture and Dialogue, Mohammed Salim al-Awa is a lawyer, jurist, writer and intellectual known for work on the meaning of Islam in the modern world. He is the author of Fil Nizam Al-Siyasi lil Dawla Al-Islamiya (On the Political System of the Islamic State) one of the most important and comprehensive studies of the concept of the Islamic state and governance. On June 14, 2011 he announced his candidacy for president of Egypt.

Al-Hariri, Abul Izz. A long time labor activist and politician, Abul Izz Al-Hariri owns a stationery shop in Alexandria. He joined the Tagammu Party in 1976, and was elected three times to Parliament (in 1976, 1984 and 2000). He was arrested six times during the Sadat regime for his activism. He was an early member of the Kifeya (Enough!) Movement in 2004, and co-founder of the National Assembly for Change (NAC) in 2010. In 2011 he broke with the Tagammu Party and co-founded the Socialist Popular Alliance Party (SPAP), which nominated him for president in the 2012 presidential elections.

Ali, Khaled. A lawyer and labor activist with the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, Khaled Ali was well known as an outspoken critic of corruption in the Mubarak regime, and for defending the rights of workers protesting labor conditions. During the uprising he became known for providing legal defense for detained protesters, founding the Front to Defend Egypt’s Protesters. He announced his presidential bid in 2012, running on an economic reform, education, and social justice platform.

Alashaal, Abdullah. Lawyer and long-time Egyptian diplomat, Abdullah Alashaal is running for president as the candidate of the Salafist Authenticity Party.

Bastawisy, Hisham. Judge Hisham Mohammed Osman Bastawisy is the vice president of the Egyptian Court of Cassation. A long-time opponent of the Mubarak administration, he is running for the presidency as the candidate of the leftist Tagammu (Progressive National Unionist) Party.

Galal, Mahmoud. A former police officer turned businessman, Mahmoud Hossam Eddin Galal founded the Beginning Party (Hizb al-Bidaya) after the courts dissolved the National Democratic Party.

Issa, Mohamed Fawzy. Former police commander turned lawyer, Issa is the guy defending many former regime officials accused of corruption, including the former ministers of agriculture, tourism and housing. He ran as an independent presidential candidate, offering a law and order campaign that vilified all protests taking place after Feb. 11, 2011 as detrimental to the good of the country.

Khairallah, Hossam. A third generation politician (his grandfather was in King Farouk’s service and his father was governor of Aswan), Hossam Khairallah spent thirty years in military service, first in the Air Force, then in Military Intelligence. In 2004 he became a businessman, chairing an investment firm and later directing a sports club. He is the presidential candidate of the Democratic Peace Party (Hizb al-Salam al-Democrati)

Mursi, Mohammed.  A professor of engineering at Zagazig University from 1985-2010, Mohammed Mursi received his PhD from the University of Southern California in 1982.  Elected to parliament several times during Mubarak’s rule, Mursi became the Muslim Brotherhood’s presidential candidate after their first-choice candidate, Khairat el-Shater, was disqualified because of a Mubarak-era criminal conviction. He runs on the Freedom and Justice Party’s anti-corruption, pro-Islamic law platform.

Moussa, Amr. Amr Moussa is a political leader in Egypt. He was formerly Secretary-General of the Arab League. He has also been ambassador to the United Nations and India. He was Egyptian Foreign Minister 1991-2001. He was fired by Mubarak for his outspoken criticism of Israel. He supported the uprising, cautiously at first then more vocally as the days stretched on. He briefly joined an advisory council set up by Egypt’s ruling military but resigned following charges that army negligence was partly to blame for the events at Port Said football stadium on 1 February, 2012, which left 74 fans dead and hundreds injured. He announced that he would run for president just two weeks after Mubarak’s resignation in February 2011.

Sabahi, Hamdin. An Egyptian journalist, activist, and candidate for the 2012 Egyptian presidential election. Sabahi received an undergraduate degree in mass communications and a masters in journalism from Cairo University. In 1996 he founded the Nasserist Al-Karama Party, and was twice elected to the People’s Assembly (in 2000 and 2005).

Shafiq, Ahmad. Ahmed Mohamed Shafiq, politician and former senior commander in the Egyptian Air Force, was the last prime minister to be appointed by Hosni Mubarak as Prime Minister of Egypt. Shafiq rose through the ranks of the Air Force as a fighter pilot, squadron, wing and base commander, finally reaching the rank of Ari Marshall. He was the Commander of the Egyptian Air Force from 1996 to 2002. He served as Egypt’s Minister of Civil Aviation from 2002 to 2011. On Jan. 23 he was appointed Prime Minister in response to the protests but found himself under increasing criticism after the president’s resignation and finally resigned Mar. 3. A candidate for the 2012 presidential elections, Shafiq presents himself as a strongman who will quickly restore law and order after taking office.