Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi confirmed on Monday that he will stand for a third term in office in an election in December.

“Just as I responded to the call of the Egyptians before, today I respond to their call again,” Sisi said in a closing speech for a three-day event that promoted policies under his rule at a new capital being built in the desert outside Cairo.

“We are on the cusp of our new republic, which seeks to complete the process of the state’s survival and rebuild it on the foundations of modernity and democracy,” he said.

Sisi, a former army chief who has been president since 2014, had been widely expected to run again and secure a third term after constitutional amendments four years ago that would allow him to stay in office until 2030.

In recent weeks, supporters have mounted a campaign using billboards and public messages urging him to stand in the Dec. 10-12 poll.

Sisi came to power after the ouster of Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013. He was announced winner of presidential elections in 2014 and 2018.

The election comes as Egypt is struggling with an economic crisis that has seen record inflation and a chronic foreign currency shortage.