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Egypt: Abdel Fattah al-Sisi expected to win Presidential election
Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. PHOTO/Reuters
Egyptians were choosing a new president on Monday in an election likely to be won by the man who nearly a year ago ousted the nation’s first freely elected president, the Islamist Mohammed Mursi.
Retired military chief Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi is practically assured of a victory in the vote, which is being held over two days, Monday and Tuesday.
The country’s most powerful figure since Mursi’s ouster 10 months ago, al-Sissi will be looking for a strong turnout and a landslide win to show the world that his removal of Morsi was the will of the people.
“The Egyptians are coming out to write their history and chart their future,” al-Sissi told reporters after he cast his ballot at a school in the upscale district of Heliopolis. The 59-year-old career soldier, in a suit and tie, was mobbed by supporters and reporters as he arrived at the school.
The only other candidate in the race is leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, who finished third in the 2012 presidential election.
The balloting is taking place amid tight security, with some 500,000 soldiers and police throwing security rings around polling centers and guarding vital installations across the nation. Egypt has 53 million registered voters.
By percentage of votes, al-Sissi could win a landslide, but his camp’s attention will be more focused on the turnout. A low turnout would show the narrowness of his support in a country that has risen up against two presidents since 2011.
