RIGHT SPEAK: Petition urges General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to seek presidency in Egypt

Egyptian policemen hold a picture with portraits of Army

Chief Gen. Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and former Egyptian President

Gamal Abdel Nasser

A group of Egyptian professionals, lawyers, and former army officers on Monday launched a campaign to collect signatures urging the country’s military chief to run for president, just two months after he ousted the first elected leader.

Organizer Rifai Nasrallah, a judge, said the goal of the petition titled ‘‘Complete Your Good Deed’’ is to make General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi give in to popular will and run for president, by collecting more than 30 million signatures around Egypt.

‘‘We are here today because we want you as leader, a chief, and a president for Egypt,’’ Nasrallah told the launch gathering at a hotel in Cairo. Addressing Sissi, he said: ‘‘Don’t forget that you told the Egyptian people to ask and you will respond. Here we are asking you to be president of Egypt.’’

The petition is modeled after Tamarod, or Rebel, a campaign which spearheaded protests against President Mohammed Morsi. Tamarod said it collected 22 million signatures demanding Morsi, an Islamist, step down.

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Since Morsi’s ouster, Sissi’s star has risen. Songs of praise for him and the military are flooding the airwaves, posters of him in his trademark dark glasses and military cap fill street walls, and videos of him addressing troops are a staple on some private media.

The wave of adulation fed speculation that he will be running for president, reports that a military spokesman denied in an interview with an English-language daily. The spokesman, however, said there is nothing stopping the general from running if he retired.

Support for a strongman to lead Egypt follows nearly three years of turbulent political transition, with almost daily protests that had progressively turned violent, and an economy in tatters.