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The official campaign for presidential contender Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has spent only 12 million Egyptian pounds so far, Tarek Nour, the campaign's coordinator and chief advisor told Aswat Masriya on Sunday. 

Nour said that six million were spent on TV and radio commercials, billboards, posters and printed advertisement and the other six million was spent on conferences. 

"Some companies would cut the prices when they know that the advertisement is in favour of Sisi," he explained. 

La Unión Europea (UE) expresó hoy que finalmente mantendrá su misión observación al completo para las elecciones presidenciales egipcias, pese al reciente anuncio de que limitaba su evaluación debido a los obstáculos para desplegar a tiempo a los expertos.

En una rueda de prensa en El Cairo, el jefe de la misión de observadores, el eurodiputado Mario David, explicó que el retraso en el despliegue de unos 30 expertos se debió a problemas "administrativos y burocráticos", pero que esto "no pone en peligro" la validez de la misión.

Personal Life and Career

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was born on November 19, 1954 in the ancient district of Al-Gamaliya where his father owns a small business. 

He is married and has three sons and one daughter. 

Sisi graduated from the Egyptian Military Academy in 1977 before taking a General Command and Staff Course at the Egyptian Command and Staff College in 1987. 

In 1992, the former army chief took a General Command and Staff Course at the Joint Command and Staff College in the United Kingdom.

Personal Life and Career

Hamdeen Sabahi was born on July 5, 1954 in a small Nile Delta town in Kafr el-Sheikh governorate called Baltim to a farmer father. 

Sabahi is married and has one daughter and one son. 

Sabahi studied Mass Communication at Cairo University in 1975. During his college years, the Nasserist politician began his political activism and ran for Student Union elections. 

The coalition led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's won the most seats in Iraq's parliamentary elections last month, boosting his chances for a third term in office, election officials said.

Monday’s results from the election commission showed Maliki's State of Law alliance garnered 92 out of 328 parliamentary seats, with the incumbent himself winning more than 721,000 personal votes.

Both were by far the highest such figures from the April 30 election.

When Egypt's military chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced in a television address the overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, an ultraconservative Salafi party official sat by his side, making an unlikely ally.

6 April Youth Movement and Misr Al-Qawia party, headed by former presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, announced Wednesday that they would boycott the upcoming presidential elections.

The incoming Egyptian parliament will consist of 630 members, up from 454 members in the 2012 parliament elected under ousted president Mohamed Morsi, legal committee spokesman Mohamed Fawzy announced Sunday.

The legal committee was created by Interim President Adly Mansour via presidential decree on 14 April to amend laws in preparation for the coming parliamentary elections, including the Political Participation Law.

Egyptian presidential candidate Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi used video conference to communicate with residents of the Upper Egyptian city of Assuit, an unprecedented move from a candidate who claims he has survived two assassination attempts.

El-Sisi, who resigned from his post as army chief to run for Egypt's presidency, has been accused by political opponents of orchestrating a coup last summer against the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi, who was removed from office by the military in July after mass protests against his rule.