The airwaves were saturated last night with discussion of the upcoming presidential election after the National Elections Committee (NEC) officially opened the door for citizens to fill out endorsement ballots for potential candidates.

Activist Khalid Ali will make a final decision on his candidacy within two days, the head of his presidential campaign Hala Fouad told Kol Youm’s Amr Adib. According to Fouad, Ali and his campaign managers have discussed the matter extensively since the election timeline was announced on Monday. Ali’s campaign has repeatedly requested that the state of emergency and bans on news websites be lifted to allow for truly free and fair elections, but these requests have gone unheeded, Fouad said (watch, runtime: 10:10). Fouad had suggested that the Ali might withdraw and boycott the election in earlier statements to the press (more in Speed Round).

Hona Al Assema’s Lamees Al Hadidi spoke to NEC deputy head Mahmoud Helmy El Sherif on the nuances of the conditions to enter the race, including on endorsement requirements. Endorsement ballots can be filled out electronically at one of nearly 400 real estate registration offices around the country, El Sherif said (watch, runtime: 20:04).

El Sherif also phoned in to Masaa DMC, where he told host Osama Kamal that judges will be dispatched to monitor each ballot box to ensure maximum transparency throughout the elections, which are being held over the course of three days to help improve the monitoring efforts (watch, runtime: 13:38).

Drafting El Sisi: Mohamed Elsewedy, head of the pro-government Support Egypt coalition — parliament’s largest bloc — boasted that 497 MPs out of a total of 596 have signed forms endorsing President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s bid for a second term. Elsewedy told Al Hayah Al Youm’s Tamer Amin that the show of support from the House, which Elsewedy noted was not just from his coalition, shows that there is “consensus” in backing El Sisi (watch, runtime: 7:05).

Parliament gets a spokesperson who we hope can translate from Cro-Magnon: Amin also spoke to parliament’s newly-appointed spokesperson Salah Hasaballah, who said his new role was created to address “false news” (God help us all) about the government and its legislative bodies, including parliament. Hasaballah said he will maintain a constant line of communication with journalists and media personalities to present them with accurate information about what happens inside the House. Seems to us it would just be easier to resume broadcasting House sessions and let some daylight shine in (watch, runtime: 25:02).

Back on Kol Youm, Adib also sat down with head of Armed Forces-affiliated Wataneya Company for Roads, Magdy Anwar, for a chat about the various roads and bridges the company has developed, including the regional Ring Road and the Galala-Ain Sokhna road. According to Anwar, the development projects have helped to halve road accidents (watch, runtime: 4:31).