New Egyptian Petition Urges General to Run for President

Give the coup a public stamp of approval

A group of Egyptian professionals, lawyers and ex-army officers on Monday launched a campaign to collect signatures urging the country's military chief to run for president, just two months after he ousted the first elected leader.

Organizer Rifai Nasrallah, a judge, said the goal of the petition titled "complete your good deed" is to make Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi give in to popular will and run for president, by collecting more than 30 million signatures around Egypt.

"We are here today because we want you a leader, a chief, and a president for Egypt," Nasrallah told the launch gathering at a hotel in Cairo. Addressing el-Sissi, he said: "Don't forget that you told the Egyptian people to ask and you will respond. Here we are asking you to be president of Egypt."