Egyptian opposition candidate ends campaign for presidential poll

The most prominent potential challenger to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in elections scheduled for December announced on Friday he would not be standing after he was unable to secure the required number of public endorsements.
The campaign of Ahmed el-Tantawy, a leftist former member of parliament, said officials and pro-government thugs had prevented many people from registering their support for his candidacy while security forces had arrested dozens of his supporters and blocked him from holding campaign events.
Egypt’s National Election Authority has said that such allegations were baseless.
Though Sisi is expected to win easily in December, Tantawy’s campaign had stirred some interest because he and his supporters had tried to campaign and gather openly on the streets in a way that has become highly unusual after a long crackdown on dissent across the political spectrum.
In order to stand in the presidential vote, candidates were required to collect endorsements from 25,000 members of the public across 15 governorates, or from 20 sitting members of parliament, by Oct. 14.