Egypt announces presidential vote on December 10-12

CAIRO — Egypt will hold a presidential vote on December 10-12, the election authority said Monday, with the winner to be announced by December 18.

Experts had predicted President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, a former army chief who has ruled for nearly a decade in the Arab world's most populous country, would move forward the 2024 election.

Sisi was first elected in 2014 after leading the ouster of elected Islamist president Mohammad Morsi, and then won a 2018 vote in a landslide against one of his own political allies.

Presidential hopefuls can apply from October, and the list of candidates is to be finalised by November 9, said Walid Hassan Hamza, chairman of Egypt's National Election Authority.

Only two other candidates have so far declared their intention to run this time, including opposition politician Ahmed Al-Tantawi, who has for months denounced harassment by security forces.

Farid Zahran, president of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, has also announced his intention to run.

The election had initially been expected in the spring of 2024.

Some experts have said it was moved forward to schedule it ahead of a possible switch to a flexible exchange rate that could exacerbate social tensions in the country of 105 million.

The vote will be held “on December 10, 11 and 12”, said Judge Hamza.