There’s fresh doubt getting heaped upon Egypt’s upcoming Presidential elections.  The original target of mid April might be pushed back for a few months, and once the ballot is held at least one politician is referring to it as a “farce” and a “comedy show” rigged to ensure Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s election.

The news network Al Jazeera broadcast a leaked recording of former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik explaining why he pulled out of the election:  “I know very well they will fix all the ballot boxes.  I have taken myself out of this loop because the election is going to be a farce.”

Shafik was prime minister in the hated military government of Hosni Mubarak and former Air Force commander, but he became a serious candidate after Mubarak's ouster.  In 2012, he narrowly lost to the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohammed Morsi, whose disastrous rule was in turn overthrown by the military in 2013.  But another politician withdrew from this upcoming election on Thursday, and Shafik no longer trusts the process.

“They will fix everything for him.  This is going to be a comedy show,” Shafik is heard saying in the recording.

Meanwhile, interim President Adly Monsour has failed to set a date for the election, and his office is suggesting 17 July might be the date instead of April.  Al-Sisi is widely expected to run, although he has not yet officially declared his candidacy.  The only declared candidate in the race so far is Leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, who says the process is already tainted because of a new law that that rules out legal challenges to the results as determined by the country’s main electoral body.