CAIRO — As Egypt’s parliamentary elections approach, a number of former generals have joined the alliances between the political and civil forces to form electoral lists. These include former presidential candidate Gen. Ahmed Shafiq, Maj. Gen. Murad Muwafi, former chief of staff Gen. Sami Annan and former Egyptian Intelligence Agency official Gen. Hossam Khairallah.

These generals had clearly sought political posts in the Egyptian presidential elections following the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood regime. Yet they all backed down as an act of courtesy to Egypt’s President Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and preferred not to go against the tide.

Will these generals continue on their political paths and form a backup for Sisi in parliament, as the majority of them have declared? Or will they decide not to run at the last moment and leave the stage for the Islamists, where the Nour Party, the Salafist blocs and the remnants of the Muslim Brotherhood alliances bet that they will win the largest number of parliamentary seats?

This is especially important as Egyptian civil parties have failed to reach an agreement on a strong alliance able to form a majority in parliament, in addition to the president’s demands that elections be postponed out of fear of the Islamists’ return to the political scene. These demands were rejected by Sisi, who stressed that the infiltration of the Brotherhood in the next parliament will cause the parliament’s downfall.