Egyptian presidential elections

Egypt will hold presidential elections on 26 and 27 May. The election will be held amid ongoing anti-government protests by opposition Islamist political parties and activists, accusations of widespread human rights abuses, deteriorating security in the Sinai Peninsula and a persistent wave of low-level and occasional mass casualty bombings in the country's major urban centres. Political uncertainty surrounding the election continues and the outcome of the poll remains almost certain with the Muslim Brotherhood, its Freedom and Justice Party and a number of other opposition groups unlikely to field candidates, due to legal restrictions or due to fears of challenging the powerful military's candidate and current de facto leader of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. El-Sisi will be challenged by the only other candidate, Hamdeen Sabahi, who is the leader of the Egyptian Popular Current and co-leader of the opposition coalition, the National Salvation Front. Sabahi ran in the 2012 presidential election and garnered 21 percent of the vote. He came third  overall. The presidential campaigning period opens on 3 May and concludes on 23 May.