Billboards bearing the image of presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq will be revealed Tuesday, following months of speculation over who was behind the mysterious blue billboards around Cairo reading “The President” in Arabic and English.
Ahmed al-Shennawy, the head of Tarek Nour Communications, which is in charge of the project, told privately owned CBC satellite TV channel that Shafiq’s photos would appear on the billboards Tuesday, the first official day for election campaigning. Some of “The President” billboards would be switched with other products, he added.
Shennawy said the campaign had signed a contract with Tarek Nour for LE2,950,000, excluding taxes.
In a TV interview last week, Shafiq denied that he was the candidate behind the advertisements.
The Presidential Elections Commission has set a LE10 million spending limit on each candidate’s electoral campaign.
Shennawy also said three other candidates and a satellite TV channel competed for the billboard space.
He criticized the campaigning of disqualified Salafi candidate Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, saying he had exceeded the campaign spending limit.
In the latest presidential opinion poll by Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, Ahmed Shafiq came in third with 11.9 percent support, behind former Arab League secretary general Amr Moussa with 41.1 percent and former Muslim Brotherhood leader Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh with 27.3 percent.
