Cairo, Jan 10 (IANS) Four-hundred Egyptian legislators came out on Tuesday in favour of another term for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has yet to say whether he will be a candidate in the presidential election set for March.
The lawmakers signed-on to an initiative launched by Mohamed Zaki al-Suwaidi, head of the majority Daam Masr (Support Egypt) coalition, and Al-Sayed al-Sherif, secretary to the speaker of parliament, Efe reported.
The speaker, Ali Abdel Aal, pointed out that Article 108 of the parliamentary regulations stipulates that each member has the right to recommend a presidential candidate.
Under Egypt's electoral law, a person wanting to run for president must show support from 20 legislators or collect signatures of 25,000 citizens representing at least 15 provinces, with a minimum of 1,000 signatures per region.
The National Electoral Authority said on Monday that the first round of the presidential election is set for March 26-28.
The second round is scheduled for April 24-26 and the results are expected on May 1, election authority head Lashin Ibrahim said.
At the moment, there is only one formally declared candidate: human rights lawyer Khaled Ali, whose bid depends on the outcome of a judicial proceeding on whether he made an "obscene gesture" in public.
Even so, Al-Sisi, who won the May 2014 election with 96.9 per cent of the vote, is expected to seek another term.
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