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Ahmed Tantawi

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Ahmed Tantawi
أحمد طنطاوي
Member of the Egyptian House of Representatives
In office
2015–2020
Personal details
Born (1979-07-25) 25 July 1979 (age 45)[1]
Qallin, Kafr el-Sheikh Governorate, Egypt[citation needed]
Political party25-30 Alliance

Ahmed Mohamed Ramadan Tantawi known as Ahmed Tantawi also: Al-Tantawy (Template:Lang-ar;[1] born 25 July 1979) is an Egyptian politician[1] and journalist. As of July 2022, he was the former head of the Dignity Party and a former member of the Egyptian House of Representatives. In 2023, Tantawi announced his potential candidacy for the 2023 Egyptian presidential election but repressive tactics, including retaliatory detentions of his family members supporters and campaign members, prevented his campaign from collecting the 25,000 voters’ endorsements required to officially file his candidacy.[2]

Political career

2015-2020 parliament

Tantawi was a member of the 25-30 Alliance created for the 2015 Egyptian parliamentary election, whose name refers to the 2011 Egyptian revolution that started on 25 January 2011 and the 30 June 2013 protests that led to the overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi.[3] He was elected to the Egyptian House of Representatives in the 2015 election in the individual component of the second phase of the election,[1] along with 13 others in the alliance.[4]

On 14 February 2019, Tantawi was one of the 16 members of parliament (MPs) who voted against the parliamentary motion for amending the Egyptian constitution, that led to the 2019 Egyptian constitutional referendum in April 2019. The motion was supported by 485 members.[5]

On 3 November 2019, Tantawi posted a YouTube video in which he proposed that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi leave power in 2022, rather than in 2024 as defined in the 2019 constitutional amendment. Tantawi later discussed his video with Mada Masr, stating that his aim was to protect Egypt from the "imminent danger" of el-Sisi continuing in power too long, that it was consistent with el-Sisi's promises, and that this should satisfy el-Sisi's supporters.

Tantawi also submitted a formal request under parliamentary procedure to Ali Abdel Aal, Speaker of the House of Representatives, proposing that 12 parliamentary committees be created to "generate a national dialogue about the political, economic and social problems facing the country". He described his aim as a serious attempt to solve "the real crisis Egypt is living through, which authorities should pay attention to before it is too late" and that the proposal would help to "absorb public outrage". Tantawi expressed his worry that a violent reaction by authorities to his initiative would discourage "the people" from choosing political methods of change.

On 5 November in a parliamentary sitting, MP Mahmoud Badr called Tantawi's proposal an "outright violation of the constitution". Speaker Abdel Aal stated that he "[does] not have any initiatives" and "[does] not pay attention to this sort of talk. ... There are red lines, including the nation, political leadership and Egypt's military and police. Insulting them is not permitted." Ninety-five MPs submitted a request to Abdel Aal to refer Tantawi to the parliament's Ethics Committee, on the grounds that Tantawi's initiative "undermines the Egyptian state and its institutions".

The Civil Democratic Movement stated that it supported the initiative, which was consistent with its own 10-point proposal announced in late October 2019.[6]

Tantawi lost his seat in a runoff in the 2020 Egyptian parliamentary election.[7]

Dignity Party

Tantawi was elected head of the Dignity Party in 25 December 2020, replacing Muhammad Sami.[7] He left the position in July of 2022.[8]

Candidacy for the 2023 Egyptian elections

In March 2023, Tantawi announced his intention to run for the 2023 presidential elections before his return from a trip to Lebanon. He posted a video on his social media pages presenting himself as a "civilian democratic alternative".[9]

Obstructions and harassment

In late September of 2023 and early October, Tantawi began touring for his campaign in "Giza, downtown Cairo, Alexandria, Qalyubiya, Beheira, Gharbeia, Daqahliya and Kafr El Sheikh."[10] Throughout his campaign, Tantawi faced a lot of politically motivated restrictions and repressions including security forces banning hotles across Egypt from hosting Tantawi's campaign, registration offices refusing to accept citizens' endorsement forms and even im some cases the ruling party gathered protestors to harass and Tantawi and his supporters from entering registration offices.[11][12]

It was also revealed that security forces hacked into Tantawi's iPhone by a network injected Predator spyware through Vodafone Egypt mobile connection. Both Citizen Lab and Google's Threat Analysis Group indicated that the attempts began as early as May and continued through August, using various methods, leading Apple to issue security updates on 21 September to patch the vulnerabilities exploited by the spyware.[13]

On 13 October, Tantawi announced that he failed to meet the minimum quota of 25,000 endorsements managing only to secure around 14,000, hence his bid for the presidential elections was unsuccessful.[14]

Arrest

Im retaliation to his challenging the president and then main candidate Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, El-Sisi's government issued an arrest warrant against Tantawi in an alleged case of forgery. Tantawi and his electoral campaign manager, Mohamed Abu El-Diyar, were sentenced initially to two years in prison but the court ordered them to pay a bail of 20,000 Egyptian pounds (almost US$645) each for the sentence to be suspended and appealed later before a higher court.[15][16]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Hatem, Mona (16 December 2015). "Phase2 individual winners" (in Arabic). National Elections Commission. Archived from the original (xls) on 13 November 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  2. ^ "Egypt: National Elections Authority Issues New Decisions Regulating Presidential Elections". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 12 December 2023.
  3. ^ Rahman, Waleed Abdul (21 July 2014). "Egypt: New independent alliance prepares to fight parliamentary elections". Asharq Al-Awsat. Archived from the original on 22 May 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  4. ^ el-Din, Gamal Essam (30 January 2018). "Egyptian parliament's 25–30 opposition bloc did not endorse any candidate for upcoming presidential elections". Al-Ahram. Archived from the original on 10 November 2019. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  5. ^ Lucas, Scott; Piazzese, Giovanni (13 March 2019). "Egypt: hopes for democratic future die as al-Sisi marches country towards dictatorship – with parliament's blessing". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 10 November 2019. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
  6. ^ "MP referred to ethics committee over reform initiative calling for Sisi's early departure from office" [Tantawi's resignation from the presidency of Al Karama and sources: He objects to participating in the national dialogue due to the lack of seriousness of the authority.]. Mada Masr. 9 November 2019. Archived from the original on 10 November 2019. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  7. ^ a b AbdelHalim, Ahmed (19 April 2021). "Dissenting MPs in Egypt: A New Parliament Without Opposition?". LSE Middle East Centre Blog. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  8. ^ "استقالة الطنطاوي من رئاسة «الكرامة».. ومصادر: معترض على المشاركة في الحوار الوطني لعدم جدية السلطة". Mada Masr. 17 July 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  9. ^ "بأنه سيترشح للرئاسة أحمد الطنطاوي يعلن العودة لمصر.. ويلمح" [Ahmed Al-Tantawi announces his return to Egypt and hints that he will run for president] (in Arabic). Rasd News Network. 22 March 2023. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  10. ^ "Campaign trail: Tantawi tours in rare show of public politics, Sisi tells 'Story of Nation' in unofficial campaign speech". Mada Masr. 1 October 2023. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  11. ^ Mamdouh, Rana (9 July 2023). "محافظات وتهديدهم بالحبس بتهمة التجمهر الأمن يمنع فنادق الصعيد من استضافة الطنطاوي.. واحتجاز أنصاره بسبع" [Security prevents hotels in Upper Egypt from hosting Al-Tantawi and detains his supporters in seven governorates and threatens them with imprisonment on charges of gathering]. Mada Masr (in Arabic). Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  12. ^ "Egypt opposition denounces foul play over presidential candidate endorsements". France 24. 6 October 2023. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  13. ^ Marczak, Bill; Scott-Railton, John; Roethlisberger, Daniel; Razzak, Bahr Abdul; Anstis, Siena; Deibert, Ron (22 September 2023). "PREDATOR IN THE WIRES: Ahmed Eltantawy Targeted with Predator Spyware After Announcing Presidential Ambitions". The Citizen Lab. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  14. ^ "Main opposition hopeful abandons run for Egypt presidency". France 24. 13 October 2023. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  15. ^ "Egypt: Court Punishes Activists for Challenging al-Sisi". Human Rights Watch. 8 February 2024. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  16. ^ Mansour, Thaer (7 February 2024). "Egypt sentences ex-presidential candidate Ahmed Tantawi to a year in prison for 'unauthorised endorsements'". The New Arab. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
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