Egypt announces March dates for presidential election

8 January 2018, 5:02 pm

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CAIRO — The chairman of Egypt’s election commission says the presidential election will be held March 26-28, with a runoff in April.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi speaks during a news conference in Cairo, Egypt, on December 11, 2017. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool)

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has yet to formally announce his bid for re-election, but is widely expected to run and win a second four-year term. Authorities have waged a wide-scale crackdown on dissent since Sissi, as defense minister, led the military overthrow of an elected but divisive Islamist president in 2013.

Lasheen Ibrahim, the chairman of the national election authority, announces today the dates for the election. The runoff will be held April 24-26 if no candidate secures more than 50 percent of the vote. Egyptian expatriates will vote March 16-18 and April 19-21.

— AP