Egypt’s
military leadership council on Monday gave Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah
El-Sisi — the army chief who helped oust the country’s first
democratically elected president — its blessing to run for the
presidency, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported.
El-Sisi has yet to announce whether
he’ll run, but the move by Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces
essentially is an endorsement of him, said Ehab Badawy, a spokesman for
Egyptian Interim President Adly Mansour.
The council added in a statement to
state television Monday night that it would be up to El-Sisi to decide,
but that it considers his candidacy “a mandate and an obligation.”
Badawy said that El-Sisi, who was
promoted from general to field marshal earlier Monday, would have to
retire from the military before running for president. The interim
government has not given a date for elections; candidates can officially
declare themselves on February 18.
El-Sisi, who was defense minister when
the military ousted President Mohamed Morsy in July, had said he would
run for president if the Egyptian people wanted him to, state media
reported recently.
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