Sisi switches off his opponents

cairo - Will it be Al-Sisi? Or Al-Sisi? Tens of millions of Egyptians have only one real choice at the presidential election at the end of March: the incumbent leader. His potential rivals have been professionally eliminated in recent weeks. The last contender, former army boss Sami Anan, was arrested yesterday.

Anan is accused, among other things, of breaking the law by applying for a candidate while he is still in the army. A colonel who previously did so was recently sentenced to six years in prison. There are still a number of possible candidates, but even if they meet all the strict requirements for the race, they will not be able to hit a package of butter at the end of March.

And that is exactly what 63-year-old Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi wants. The army leader who came to power through a coup and won 97 percent of the votes in presidential elections in 2014, does not tolerate any opposition. Certainly not from someone like Anan, who comes from the institute that pulls all the strings: the army.

Earlier, Ahmed Shafiq, former Air Force boss, was already under heavy pressure from the authorities. Anwar Sadat, cousin of the former president, blew off his campaign because of a 'climate of intimidation'.

At the moment there is still a right-wing sports bobo and a left-wing human rights lawyer, whose doubts increase and who also risk being disqualified due to a pending trial. But the question is whether they can meet the requirements: the support of twenty MPs or 25,000 citizens from fifteen different provinces. By comparison, Al-Sisi would have been recommended by ten million citizens and 500 MPs. Candidates still have until January 29 to sign up.

Al-Sisi promised a transparent election process during his own candidacy, last Friday. But in the Egypt of today there is little transparency. In recent years, tens of thousands of opponents of the regime, often after rattling behind closed doors, ended up in prison. Human Rights Watch last week published an extremely critical report about the country, which 'knows little boundaries in the reckless knockdown of every dissident sound'.

Al-Sisi, who has to rely on little criticism from the West for his support in the fight against terror, rules with a harsh hand over a country where poverty is high and water is scarce. Although the economy has recently improved slightly thanks to a billions injection from abroad. But it is not enough to provide the population, which is growing explosively, with a view to a better future.