President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in an interview ahead of this month elections has turned to the nation to help provide a $2-trillion budget that, he said, would enable him build the country.
Egyptians will be called to polls March 26-28 to choose between al-Sisi and Moussa Mostafa Moussa believed by many as a puppet of the regime.
Al-Sisi told Egyptian journalist, Sandra Nashaat, he would need a budget of $2 trillion to build the country, Middle East Monitor (MEMO) reports.
The comments confirm his critics’ belief that the one who ousted the country’s first democratically elected president in 2013 will get an outright win in the elections.
Al-Sisi led a military coup against President Mohamed Morsi on the ground it was a popular demand from the nation.
Several of al-Sisi’s potential challengers found themselves arrested even before they register their candidacy.
The former defense minister-turned President wished, in the interview, to have been challenged by several candidates in the presidential election.
“I swear to God, I wish there were ten [candidates] standing against me of the best people and you could choose as you like from us. But we are still not ready yet,” he told the interviewer.
