Sadat is the latest candidate to drop out of Egypt’s presidential election

Another contender for Egypt’s presidency dropped out of the running yesterday with Mohammed Anwar Sadat, leader of the liberal Reform and Development Party, saying he saw no possibility of fair race against the incumbent, Abdel Fattah El Sisi.

Mr El Sisi has yet to announce his re-election bid but banners bearing his image and boasting of his achievements have appeared in Egypt in recent days.

“The security and bureaucracy will make my life and the lives of my supporters difficult, not only in the election, but also in our civil society activities and initiatives,” Mr Sadat told The National. “The window for the 2018 election is closed.”

The nephew of former president Anwar Sadat was ejected from his parliament seat last February after being accused of leaking draft legislation to limit the activities of non-profit civil society groups to foreign embassies. The law was later adopted, drawing criticism from Egypt’s western allies.

Announcing his decision at the Reform and Development Party’s headquarters in Heliopolis, just three kilometres from the Ittihadiya presidential palace, Mr Sadat alleged that the administration had already violated the polling rules published by the National Electoral Commission last week.

One of the commission’s stipulations was that presidential candidates needed to submit their applications between January 20 and 29.

“Government officials started collecting signatures from civil servants in ministries and other government institutions, asking President Sisi to run for another term before opening the door for the nomination process, which is a big violation,” Mr Sadat said.

So far the only person to declare that they will contest the election is Mortada Mansour, an MP and chairman of Zamalek Sporting Club, one of Egypt’s biggest football teams.

Mr Mansour has positioned himself to a nationalist “right” of Mr El Sisi, vowing to block social media channels such as Facebook to control public discourse and to take measures against Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance dam across the Nile.

Khaled Ali, a leftist lawyer and opponent of the handover of the Tiran and Sanafir Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, says he will run but if facing judicial challenges.

Another contender, army colonel Ahmed Konswa, was sentenced to six years in jail for declaring his candidacy, which breached a rule forbidding active duty military personnel from seeking political office. “Mohammed Anwar Sadat was the most progressive candidate,” said Mohamed Soliman, 26, a student leader of the January 2011 uprising. “He worked in civil society for years and has good connections with the outside world.”

But even Mr Sadat’s potential supporters acknowledged that his pluralistic, environmentally oriented platform was unlikely to attract a lot of voters.

Still, they lamented that Egyptians’ choices were so constrained just seven years after the Tahrir Square uprising that overthrew autocratic president Hosni Mubarak. “It is sad that elections in Egypt seem to have returned to the old days, when it was just a referendum on the president,” said Mr Soliman.

While the Ittihadiya Palace has made has yet to make reference to the presidential race, Mr Sisi said on Twitter on Sunday that a two-day conference starting tomorrow would highlight his accomplishments and answer questions from Egyptian citizens. “Together we will review the path of success,” the president tweeted.