Pro-military campaign says collected 5.5 million signatures for Sisi presidential bid

CAIRO (AA) - A petition campaign aiming to convince Egypt's Defense Minister Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi to run for presidency in the upcoming presidential elections has announced it gathered 5.5 million signatures pressing the top general to run.

In a press conference held Monday evening, Refaei Nasrallah, founder of 'Kamel Gemelak' (complete your favor), said that his campaign aimed to garner 30 million signatures within six weeks.

Calls have grown in recent weeks for the country's defense minister to run for the next president. 

Several web pages and campaigns have recently popped up, particularly on social-networking site Facebook, touting al-Sisi for president.

During the press conference, Nasrallah announced that five groups, all seeking to push Al-Sisi to run for presidency, teamed up with his campaign.

"Egypt needs Al-Sisi, who protects the will of his people,  to be a leader. No one else has the potentials to lead Egypt," he told the audience.

Nasrallah called on Egyptians to take to the streets on October 6, the day the country celebrates the anniversary of its victory over Israel in the 1973 war, to mark the occasion and show support for the defense minister.

The day is also expected to see protests by the supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, who was ousted by the country's powerful army on July 3 following mass demonstrations against his rule.

Last month, military spokesman Colonel Ahmed Ali said on Sunday that the general does not intend to run in the elections and stressed that the military will not support a specific candidate in the presidential election, including those with military backgrounds.

However, members in the petition campaign said that they would push Al-Sisi to run "with all possible means."

"He [Al-Sisi] would not let us down and would not waste our efforts and the efforts of Egyptians seeking stability and development," Khaled al-Adawi, a coordinator of the campaign, said.

by Nagwa Mustafa 

englishnews@aa.com.tr