Air Marshal Ahmed Mohamed Shafik Zaki[note 1] (Arabic: أحمد محمد شفيق زكى‎, IPA: [ˈæħmæd mæˈħæmmæd ʃæˈfiːʔ ˈzæki]; born 25 November 1941) is an Egyptian politician and former presidential candidate.

He was a senior commander in the Egyptian Air Force and later served as Prime Minister of Egypt from 29 January 2011 to 3 March 2011 under Hosni Mubarak.

[4] 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.

[6][7] His parents were prominent members of Egyptian society, with his father, Mohamed Shafiq Zaki, serving as undersecretary at the ministry of irrigation and his mother, Naja Alwi, being the daughter of a noted ophthalmologist.

[11] Whilst he was the minister for civil aviation, he oversaw improvements in EgyptAir and helped construct a new third terminal at Cairo International Airport which was completed in 2008 and opened for commercial operations on 27 April 2009.

[13] Shafik's period in office as prime minister was short-lived, lasting just over a month, after he resigned on 3 March due to pressure from protestors and the opposition.

Shafik resigned from office one day after a contentious interview on the Egyptian ONTV satellite network in which he was confronted by Alaa Al Aswany, author of The Yacoubian Building, on Reem Maged's talk show Baladna bel Masry.

Allegations have arisen that the interior ministry handed out over 900,000 ID cards to Egyptian soldiers so that they could vote for Shafik, which would be a major campaign violation.

Fellow presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi, who finished in third place in the first round of voting, asked for the Egyptian election to be temporarily suspended until an investigation could be carried out.

[22] The election contest between Shafik and Morsi had been described as a "choice between two of Egypt's most polarizing politicians", and some activists resorted to participation in a hunger strike to protest his candidacy.

[23] Shafik's presidential campaign was characterized by an emphasis on public order and security, and although the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces did not endorse a candidate, American news outlet McClatchy Newspapers pointed to the "conspicuous presence of sympathetic security forces at his campaign stops" as evidence of his close relationship with the military.

In the hours following his defeat, it was widely reported that Shafiq and his family flew out to Abu Dhabi, wary of potential charges of financial irregularities and electoral fraud, a move he later confirmed on Sky News.

[27] In August 2013, former Israeli negotiator Yossi Beilin stated that an Egyptian official had told him that the true results of the election were in favor of Shafik, but the military gave the presidency to Morsi out of fear of unrest.

The New York Times published an article in which it confirmed that the withdrawal of former candidate Ahmed Shafiq the day before the official announcement of the elections was based on threats made by the Egyptian government with old corruption charges and an alleged sex tape.