Everyone and their mother was talking about the presidential election on the talk shows last night following the National Election Authority’s press conference yesterday, at which it announced Egyptians will head to the polls in December, with runoff in early 2024 if necessary. Discussions about the election rules, coverage of yet more endorsements for President El Sisi’s expected candidacy, and an extended interview with one of his potential challengers, Farid Zahran, all featured on the airwaves. We have full coverage of the press conference in this morning’s news well, above.

#1- Election 2023: Kelma Akhira host Lamees El Hadidi walked the audience through the election timetable (watch, runtime: 14:39), Al Hayah Al Youm’s Lobna Asal dedicated airtime to the press conference (watch, runtime: 4:13), while Ala Masouleety’s Ahmed Moussa spent most of the night lavishing praise on the president and speculating about his potential candidacy (watch, runtime: 7:27 | 7:36 | 5:22). Meanwhile, Masaa DMC’s Osama Kamal interviewed National Elections Authority (NEA) head Ahmed Bendari, who walked the audience through the conditions for filing candidacy documents (watch, runtime: 2:52 | 3:11).

Interview with a prospective presidential candidate: Masaa DMC’s Osama Kamal interviewed Farid Zahran, the head of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party who announced his intention last week to run in the election (watch, runtime: 3:15). Zahran said he is looking to put forward a “democratic civil alternative” in the presidential race, and though he stressed that he isn’t looking to represent the political opposition, he said that he has backing of some of their circles. (Cairo 24 | Youm7)

Zahran also got a mention on El Hekaya: Maha Abdel Nasser, deputy head of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, phoned in to El Hekaya (watch runtime: 7:29) and provided Amr Adib with a recent criminal background check disproving a document circulating on social media claiming to show Zahran has a criminal history.

#2- AIIB meeting kicks off in Sharm: Following the opening day of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s (AIIB) annual meeting in Sharm El Sheikh, Al Hayah Al Youm featured for the second night in a row an interview with an economist singing the praises of the China-led lender’s approach to financing (watch, runtime: 3:07). El Hadidi dedicated some airtime to El Sisi’s speech at the meeting, which he used to highlight Egypt’s infrastructure funding gap, his government’s state ownership policy, and the recent package of economic reforms aimed at improving the business environment (watch, runtime: 5:02). Ahmed Moussa squeezed-in some time on his show to cover yesterday’s meeting between El Sisi and the bank’s chairman, Jin Liqun (watch, runtime: 1:49).

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