new political party, called the Egyptian Patriotic Movement, on 24 September 2012. 2018 Egyptian presidential election On 29 November 2017, Ahmed Shafik announced his intention to run in the Egyptian presidential election, but a few hours later announced that the United Arab Emirates prevented him from leaving its territory after announcing his intention to run in the presidential election which was denied by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash and said in a series of tweets on Twitter, that there was "no obstacle" for Shafiq to leave the UAE, and that the UAE was “sad” to learn that Mr. Shafik was ungrateful. "We facilitated matters for him and we have generously welcomed him, despite our strong reservations about some of his stances," Mr. Gargash wrote. On 2 December 2017, Shafiq was deported from the UAE to France. The next day he left France and arrived in Egypt. On January 7, 2018, Ahmed Shafik withdrew his candidacy, announcing his withdrawal from the presidential race. The New York Times published an article in which it confirmed that the withdrawal of former candidate Ahmed Shafiq the day before the official announcement of the elections was based on threats made by the Egyptian government with old corruption charges and an alleged sex tape. The New York Times confirmed having audio recordings from an officer in one of the Egyptian security services, Ashraf al-Kholi, instructing a number of media professionals to put pressure on public opinion on the former candidate and former head of the air force in order to force him to withdraw from the presidential race. Notes References |- |- 1941 births Living people Egyptian Muslims 21st-century prime ministers of Egypt Egyptian Air Force air marshals Members of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces Politicians from Cairo Egyptian Patriotic Movement politicians Egyptian Air Academy alumni Candidates for President of Egypt Yom Kippur War pilots Egyptian people of the Yom Kippur War 20th-century Egyptian military personnel Civil Aviation ministers of Egypt Egyptian political party founders