Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister under deposed president Hosni Mubarak and a 2012 presidential candidate, announced that he intends to run for Egypt’s 2018 presidential election and that he will be returning to Egypt “in the next few days”, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
Shafiq said in a video declaration sent to Reuters and a telephone statement, that he is “honoured to announce” that he will run so “Egypt [can] select its president for the next four years.”
The former air force pilot has been residing in the United Arab Emirates since Islamist former president Mohamed Morsi’s government issued an arrest warrant for him in the aftermath of the 2012 presidential election. Shafiq narrowly lost that race to Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate, gaining 48.27% of the vote, versus Morsi’s 51.73%