{"id":57896,"date":"2018-03-26T13:04:36","date_gmt":"2018-03-26T08:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tns.world\/?p=57896"},"modified":"2018-03-26T13:04:36","modified_gmt":"2018-03-26T08:04:36","slug":"egypt-heads-to-polls-to-choose-between-sisi-and-rival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tns.world\/?p=57896","title":{"rendered":"Egypt heads to polls to choose between Sisi and ‘rival’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cairo March 26 (TNS):<\/strong> Egyptians headed to the polls Monday in a presidential election to choose between incumbent Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and a little-known politician who has struggled to make the case he is a serious contender.<\/p>\n

Polling stations opened at 9:00 am (0700 GMT) for the three-day vote, in which Sisi is all but guaranteed to win a second four-year term.<\/p>\n

The president was among the first voters, shown on Egyptian television casting his ballot at a school in Cairo’s Heliopolis district under tight security.<\/p>\n

Security forces were deployed across the country to protect polling booths and armoured vehicles were stationed at several points around Cairo.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Islamic State group’s Egyptian affiliate, which has killed hundreds of soldiers and civilians, has threatened attacks on election infrastructure.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, two policemen were killed in a car bomb attack targeting the provincial head of security for the Alexandria governorate. The security chief was unharmed.<\/p>\n

Some 60 million people in Egypt, the most populated Arab country, are registered to vote on March 26, 27, and 28. Official results are expected on April 2.<\/p>\n

They will have the choice between Sisi and Moussa Mostafa Moussa, who registered immediately before the close date for applications, saving the election from being a one-horse race.<\/p>\n

Moussa, who has denied he is a “puppet”, had been leading a Sisi re-election campaign until the moment he registered as a candidate.<\/p>\n

Other opponents have been sidelined, including former military chief of staff Sami Anan, who was detained in January, shortly after announcing his candidacy.<\/p>\n

The military said the reserve general broke the law by illegally declaring his candidacy.<\/p>\n

In an interview broadcast on Egyptian television last week, 63-year-old Sisi said the lack of serious opponents was not his doing.<\/p>\n

“I wish we had one, or two, or three, or 10 of the best people and you choose however you want,” he said.<\/p>\n

Sisi had won his first term in 2014, a year after the former army chief ousted his predecessor Mohamed Morsi following mass protests demanding the divisive Islamist’s resignation.<\/p>\n

In that election, Sisi faced Hamdeen Sabbahi, an established left-wing politician much better known than Moussa. Sisi won with 96.9 percent of the vote.<\/p>\n

With Sisi’s victory effectively guaranteed, authorities will be hoping for a large turnout to enhance the vote’s legitimacy.<\/p>\n

Sisi has stressed in his pre-election appearances the importance of voters turning out in large numbers.<\/p>\n

In 2014, about 37 percent of voters participated in the two-day election, prompting authorities to add a third day to obtain a final participation rate of 47.5 percent.<\/p>\n

It is unlikely that this year’s turnout will even reach the 37 percent threshold, said analyst Mostafa Kamel al-Sayed.<\/p>\n

“The result is known in advance, and this does not encourage Egyptians to go out and vote,” he said.<\/p>\n

During the campaign, Sisi appeared frequently on television and in newspapers, hailing factories and infrastructure projects built over the past four years.<\/p>\n

Egyptian cities, especially Cairo, are flooded with banners featuring photographs of Sisi and messages of support from business owners. Posters vowing support for Moussa, 65, are rarely seen.<\/p>\n

But with an economic crisis and gruelling price hikes — and the return of a regime seen as at least as authoritative as that of ex-leader Hosni Mubarak — support for Sisi appears to be slightly in decline.TNS\/AFP<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cairo March 26 (TNS): Egyptians headed to the polls Monday in a presidential election to choose between incumbent Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and a little-known politician who has struggled to make the case he is a serious contender. Polling stations opened at 9:00 am (0700 GMT) for the three-day vote, in which Sisi is all but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57896"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57899,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57896\/revisions\/57899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/57897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}