Egyptians head to polls in presidential election

Polling stations have opened for Egyptians to vote in a presidential election overshadowed by war in neighbouring Gaza and with little doubt that the incumbent Abdel Fattah el Sisi will secure a third term.

Before polls opened at 0700 GMT, dozens of voters had already crowded in front of a polling station in a central Cairo school amidst heavy security, AFP reported.

In front of the Cairo polling station, posters bore messages to "get out and participate" while a DJ played nationalist songs. Some 67 million people are eligible to vote, and all eyes will be on turnout after successive previous elections mustered low participation figures.

There hasn't been any serious opposition to Sisi in the polls, the fifth president to emerge from within the ranks of the military since 1952.

The three other candidates are all relative unknowns among the public: Farid Zahran, leader of the left-leaning Egyptian Social Democratic Party; Abdel-Sanad Yamama, from the Wafd, a century-old but relatively marginal party; and Hazem Omar, from the Republican People's Party.

Of the trio, Omar appeared to come out on top during a televised debate between the candidates. Sisi did not attend and sent an MP in his place.

Economic reforms

Sisi, a retired field marshall in the Egyptian army, came to power in 2013 after leading the overthrow of elected president Mohamed Morsi following mass protests.

In both the 2014 and 2018 elections, he won landslide victories with over 96 percent of the vote, according to official results.

He later extended the presidential mandate from four to six years and amended the constitution to raise the limit on consecutive terms in office from two to three.

Given that context, turnout is likely to be a key indicator of public sentiment. At the last election it fell six points to 41.5 percent.

Sisi is not without supporters, many of whom credit him with engineering a return to calm in the country after the chaos that followed the 2011 uprising that overthrew Hosni Mubarak.

Voting will take place from Sunday until Tuesday, between 0700 and 1900 GMT each day, with the official results announced on December 18.