Sabahi officially presents bid to run for president against Abdel Fatah el-Sissi

Sabahi. (Photo: Simon Hanna/Ahram Online)

Leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi officially submitted his bid on Saturday to run for Egypt's presidency, making him the second candidate for next month's election alongside former army-chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi who is widely expected to win.
The election is due to start on May 26-27.
Sabahi, who heads a political alliance called the Popular Current, was a member of parliament during ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak's years in office. He came third in the 2012 election that was won by Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Sabbahi has garnered 30,000 signatures of support for his candidacy from 18 governorates across the country, his campaign announced on Thursday. Sabahi submitted the required documents to the presidential election committee after gathering 31,100 endorsements. The required number of endorsements is 25,000.
On Wednesday, the campaign of former military chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi announced that it had gathered far more than the required number of forms, with over 500,000 recommendations, according to campaign legal advisor Mohamed Abou Shuqqa. El-Sisi, who is expected to win by a landslide, presented his recommendation forms to PEC last week, becoming the first presidential candidate to complete all required paperwork for electoral eligibility.