Egypt presidential hopeful says will reconsider election bid

CAIRO: Former Egyptian premier and presidential hopeful Ahmed Shafik said he was reconsidering his intention to run in the 2018 presidential elections, after relatives said his whereabouts were unknown for hours.
“I said my intention was based on the information and the general idea I had about the current situation,” Shafik told talk show host Wael El-Ebrashy by phone in his first comments since Saturday evening’s reported deportation.
But following his return to Egypt, he needs to “look into the situation and check it thoroughly, now I will go out and see the situation on the ground,” he told Ebrashy from a Cairo hotel.
“Now I think there is a chance that compels me to verify accurately what exactly is needed,” Shafik said.
Shafik, appointed premier by Hosni Mubarak shortly before his overthrow in 2011, is seen as a main challenger for President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, who is likely to dominate the 2018 vote despite not yet officially announcing his candidacy.
Shafik had announced his intention to run in the elections in a video sent by an aide on Wednesday, where he stated the country may need “new blood” to face its current “many problems in all aspects of life.”
Shafik said he was received well by officials in Cairo and was then taken to a hotel.
“I was surprised truthfully when I was in the car that I was being driven to one of the most distinguished hotels in the area where I live,” he said.
“Here I am talking to you and not kidnapped or anything,” he told Ebrashy by phone, insisting he was planning to stay at a hotel anyway as his home needed maintenance.
A relative of Shafik said on Sunday he spoke to his daughter for “a minute,” the first time he has called either of his two daughters since leaving the UAE.
His lawyer Adly said in a statement on her Facebook page that she met her client later on Sunday. The two met at a hotel in New Cairo where he “confirmed he is in good health and did not undergo any investigation,” Adly said.
Shafik narrowly lost out on the presidency in 2012 to President Mohammed Mursi.
After the polls, he was tried in absentia on corruption charges, but eventually acquitted.
Sissi, a former army chief, was elected president in 2014, a year after the ouster of Mursi from power.