Ahmed Shafik

Who is Ahmed Shafik?

Ahmed Mohamed Shafik Zaki is an Egyptian politician and a former candidate for the presidency of Egypt. He was a senior commander in the Egyptian Air Force and later served as Prime Minister of Egypt from 31 January 2011 to 3 March 2011.

After a career as a fighter pilot, and squadron, wing and base commander, Shafik was the Commander of the Egyptian Air Force from 1996 to 2002, reaching the rank of air marshal. Thereafter he served in the government as Minister of Civil Aviation from 2002 to 2011.

He was appointed as prime minister by President Hosni Mubarak on 31 January 2011 in response to the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, making him the last prime minister to serve as part of Mubarak's administration. He remained in office for only one month, resigning on 3 March 2011, one day after a contentious talk show confrontation in which Alaa Al Aswany, a prominent Egyptian novelist, accused him of being a Mubarak regime holdover.

He narrowly lost out in the 2012 Egyptian presidential elections to Mohamed Morsi, the candidate of the Freedom and Justice Party, gaining 48.27% of the vote, compared to Morsi's 51.73%. In September 2012, Morsi's government issued an arrest warrant for Shafik. He was acquitted in one case and the other case was "shelved", allowing him to return to Egypt. His name has been removed from fugitive watch lists, meaning that he will be allowed to return to Egypt, if he wishes.