It was par for the course that on Monday, October 2, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi would declare his candidacy for the December presidential election, to "complete the dream of a new presidential term." He made the announcement at the end of a three-day conference called the "Story of Homeland."

It was a mere formality. The incumbent president has been in campaign mode for months. Whenever he appears in public, he heaps praise on his own achievements since coming to power in 2014. Ever since it was announced last week that the election would be held over three days, December 10-12, there has been an increasing number of "spontaneous" demonstrations in his honor. On Monday, this culminated in thousands of his supporters holding a rally in central Cairo and taking to the river Nile in felucca sailboats bearing his effigy.

At the rally, posters displayed the slogan "Yes to stability in Egypt," which the president claims to embody, as do some of his supporters in the West. In his candidacy speech, addressing the "great people of Egypt," el-Sisi struck a patriotic chord. He looked back on 2013, when "we (...) reclaimed our beloved Egypt from the clutches of the group of darkness and treachery," an allusion to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement now banned in Cairo. Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood was overthrown by the army in July 2013, after huge demonstrations. It's no coincidence that el-Sisi is looking back at this pivotal moment 10 years on as the toppling of his predecessor made him exceptionally popular among a whole segment of society. This popularity has waned over the years due to a downturn in Egypt's economy.

Posing as the author of the "state's survival process," the presidential candidate asserted that he wanted to "work" to secure a "decent life" for Egyptians, borrowing the phrase from an ongoing anti-poverty program. Major infrastructure projects that he launched during his first two terms in office have been criticized by opponents and economists alike as they believe they have siphoned off state coffers and tripled the debt now stifling Egypt.

While the government blames inflation on the effects of the war in Ukraine, el-Sisi said on Saturday, "Don't you Egyptians dare say you would rather eat than build and progress." He added, "If the price of the nation's progress and prosperity is to go hungry and thirsty, then let us not eat or drink." These statements triggered rare widespread criticism on social media, where Egyptians are usually very careful about what they say, for fear of being arrested by the police. On Monday evening, the unfurling of banners in support of el-Sisi in the town of Marsa Matrouh, on the Mediterranean coast, was greeted by hissing and booing.

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