Former presidential candidate, Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh, accused Egypt’s army-backed authorities on Sunday of creating a “republic of fear,” and said he will not run for president in the upcoming elections in press conference held Sunday.
Calling the elections a ‘mockery,’ Abul-Foutouh, who finished fourth in the 2012 presidential race as an independent, said, “Our conscience does not let us participate in an operation to deceive the Egyptian people and act like there are elections when there are not.”
The 62 year old head of the Strong Egypt Party, said “this is a republic of fear,” Reuters quoted him as saying.
Strong Egypt Party members were arrested for spreading posters calling for a “No” vote leading up to the constitutional vote earlier last month.
Abul-Foutouh said during his Sunday press conference that a hotel manager had turned down his request to host the event, not because of instructions from the authorities, but because of his own distress, backing up his claim that there was not an atmosphere in fear in the country.
“Any Egyptian who wants to express his opinion is afraid that he will be harmed, detained, that his house will be stormed, or a case against him will be fabricated, or it will be said that ‘you are insulting the judiciary’,” he said.
He also cited the fact that 21,000 activists have been imprisoned.
Expressing defiance against the existing military backed regime, Abul-Foutouh said: “Egyptians will not live in this republic of fear after Jan. 25,” referring to the 2011 uprising that led to Hosni Mubarak’s downfall.”
He added: “The nations that have broken the fear barrier will not again surrender (to it).”
The politician, who was a senior member of the now blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood movement, announced his abstention from the election after his party’s boycotted the country’s latest constitutional referendum on Jan. 14 and 15.
In 2011, the Brotherhood expelled Abul-Foutouh from the group, causing him to attempt an independent bid for the presidency.
He had previously been jailed under deposed President Hosni Mubarak, and was fiercely critical of toppled Islamist President Mohammad Mursi during his one-year presidency, calling for early presidential elections before the army’s decision to remove him on July 3.
Leftish politician Hamdeen Sabahi, who finished third in the 2012 elections, was the first to declare his participation in the elections on Saturday. Other former candidates said they would support military leader Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi if he ran for the position. Al-Sisi has yet to announce his candidacy.
Interim President Adly Mansour said the presidential polls are expected to take place before April 18.
(Source / 09.02.2014)
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