Khaled Ali, prominent leftist lawyer and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) counselor, has decided not to run for president. The youngest would be candidate, 42, criticized the upcoming elections as being a sign of the army’s overreaching involvement in political life.  Ali is also wary of the fragile political and social climate under which the next presidential elections will take place.

Khaled Ali, why did you decide to quit the presidential race?

Khaled Ali, prominent leftist lawyer and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) counselor, has decided not to run for president. The youngest would be candidate, 42, criticized the upcoming elections as being a sign of the army’s overreaching involvement in political life.  Ali is also wary of the fragile political and social climate under which the next presidential elections will take place.

Khaled Ali, why did you decide to quit the presidential race?

I quit in protest of the political, social, and legislative environment surrounding the electoral process. These circumstances have caused the electoral process to lose its essence and transform it from a state of competitiveness to a formality and a mere ballot box procedure.

You came in seventh in the 2012 presidential race with nearly 134,000 votes. What is the difference between the 2012 elections and the upcoming ones?

There is a difference in terms of the legislative, political and social environment. The previous elections came in the aftermath of the January 25 revolution, where things were more pronounced and morale amongst the revolution and its youth was at its highest.

In addition, the previous elections were the first elections held after the fall of Mubarak, which was evident in the number of candidates who withdrew their candidature, some of whom were grassroots citizens. That situation reflected a positive status in the sense that people could make an uninfluenced decision. The elections ended with 12 candidates out of whom one candidate won the fierce contest for presidency.

How do you view the current political situation?

The present elections are being contested against the theory that Egypt is facing an external and internal war, which has clearly reflected on the political sphere, especially since the situation in Sinai has turned into military confrontations making the possibility for a political solution far-fetched.

In addition, the two parties—the Muslim Brotherhood and the military— have an interest in the continuation of the conflict, pending the end of the presidential elections and the upcoming parliamentary elections.

What is the interest of the Muslim Brotherhood?

The Brotherhood’s interest in the continuation of the status quo, including the repression of freedoms and daily bloodshed is to use them to as an expression that what happened on June 30^th was a coup and not a popular uprising.

You previously ran for president when higher electoral commission decisions were immune to appeal. Why do you refuse to do so now?

The difference is obvious. The political climate was different and the immunization of HEC’s decisions at the time was based on the constitutional declaration adopted on 19 March 2011. It consisted of a small number of provisions, which did not prevent the immunization procedure. It did not happen by the force of the Constitution subject to the referendum by the majority of voters Article 97, which says: “No action or decision may be immunized away from the judicial review.”

The last part of Article 210 provided for “Challenging the decisions by the governing bodies supervising the parliamentary and presidential elections.” Besides, the State Council’s legislation department issued a decision which rejected the immunization of the higher electoral committee, whereas the state did not take that decision into consideration. We, therefore, had to reject it and make every effort to expose the attempts to break it.

I must admit that I have learned from my mistakes and shall not take part in unconstitutional elections and I believe it is natural for one to correct one’s mistakes.

From your point of view, what are the gaps in the current electoral law?

There are several gaps including, for example, that the law stipulates to collect 25 mandates to enter the elections, which is primarily associated with publicity. But, it has re-stipulated that publicity shall not take effect before opening the candidature which has not yet happened. This is obviously meant to incapacitate the youth.

The situation has been further aggravated by the demonstration law which sentences the youth to 18 years in prison and may apply to some candidates should they start a street demonstration. The same procedure does not apply to others as it is presently taking place when a publicity campaign is arranged for a particular candidate at all bridges and over TV channels.

This law has faced the candidates with an election publicity predicament by limiting pre-election campaigning to one month. How can I tour all of Egypt’s villages and governorates in only 30 days?

Besides, candidates are not allowed to raise funds, which prevents young people from running for election due to their inability to finance their elections.  It also prevents using donations to collect mandates, which is another constraint that causes the electoral process to lose its essential merit.

On the other hand, the question of raising complaints with the election commission is odd since it is the only body that may have the right to consider the grievances, which makes the commission to be the judge and the judged at the same time. It should have granted candidates the right to appeal for two things, namely exclusion and result and to appear before a judicial authority within a four-day period and that its verdict is final.

With regards the ballot counting process, the situation is even worse than what it was under the previous law where candidates were deprived of getting a copy of the count made by the sub-committees. They can only get a copy of the result obtained by the general committees disallowing, thus, the candidates to verify any vote-rigging.

All polls show that Defense Minister Sisi is highly favored by the public. Does he need to detail the elections law or forge the result of the upcoming elections?

The media and the state as well as all its institutions are promoting the concept that Sisi is a great hero, in addition to being the commander-in-chief of the army, which has earned him unprecedented popularity coupled with a moral assassinations campaign spearheaded by the media. The question is not linked to his person, but to the principle of the elections and genuine competitiveness. Should Sisi desire to run for presidency, he must take a step backward.

Would you and your supporters vote for any of the candidates?

I will not support any candidate in the upcoming presidential elections and I will not call on anyone to participate.

What about your meeting with Hamdeen Sabahi, which came a few days before announcing your position about the presidential elections?

I met with Sabahi to discuss means of escalating and confronting the decisions of immunizing the higher electoral commission and whether he might take a position against the presidential elections or not.

What are the measures that are likely to make you reconsider withdrawal from the presidential elections?

Such measures would include that the commander-in-chief of the army does not run as an army chief, the abrogation of the one-hundred-year-old demonstration law, which leads to the arrest of young demonstrators, in addition to the improvement of the electoral law and media availability based on the principle of media accessibility to all.

Editor’s Note: After this interview was conducted, army chief Abdul Fattah al-Sisi resigned from his military post to announce his candidacy for president.