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Egypt votes for president

May 26, 2014

Egyptians have voted to elect a new president with ex-army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi widely expected to win. It's the first presidential election since the army deposed Islamist president Morsi last year.

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Image: Reuters

The two-day presidential polls opened on Monday for some 53 million registered voters in Egypt.

Ex-army chief el-Sissi, who led Morsi's overthrow in July, is expected to crush his only rival, leftist politician Hamdeen Sabbahi.

On Friday, el-Sissi called for a high turnout in the election, "You need to go down now more than any other time in (the country's) history. Go down, show to the entire world that there are 40, 45 (million) or even more" voters casting their ballots, el-Sissi said at a campaign rally.

In late March, Sissi stepped down as the country's military leader to pursue the presidency.

Veteran dissident Sabbahi has vowed to defend the democratic aspirations of the 2011 revolt that saw longtime strongman president Hosni Mubarak step down. "We swear to God that symbols of corruption and despotism (from the Mubarak era) will not return," he said Friday.

The military and police have been heavily deployed to secure polling stations during the vote following months of violence, which the military-backed government has blamed on Morsi's now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

The polls mark more than three years of political turmoil that has seen two presidents ousted following mass protests. More than a thousand people have been killed since the crackdown in July with around 15,000 protestors, many Brotherhood supporters, arrested.

Final results are expected to be officially announced on June 5.

hc/av (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)