For the sake of guaranteeing a democratic and appropriate political atmosphere for the upcoming presidential elections in 2018, the “Presidential Team” initiative called on the current government to follow a number of rules to reach a free and fair electoral atmosphere. A statement released by the initiative on Saturday invited the government to establish a national authority for elections assigned to undertake a supervisory role over the elections. The Presidential Team initiative was first launched in 2016 by former presidential adviser and planetary scientist Essam Heggy. According to Heggy, the initiative includes several Egyptian revolutionaries who are working on nominating suitable candidates for the 2018 elections. In the same context, the Presidential Team stressed that the presence of local and international monitoring organizations in the 2018 Presidential elections is a necessity, noting that peaceful change can only be achieved through free and fair elections.

Source: Egypt Independent May 16, 2017 14:26 UTC