UPDATE - Egyptians cast ballots in presidential election

UPDATES HEADLINE, PROVIDES ADDITIONAL DETAIL

By Mohamed al-Rayes

CAIRO (AA) - Egyptians on Monday began casting ballots in a three-day presidential election amid predictions of a landslide win for incumbent President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi.

Polling stations opened their doors at 9:00 a.m. and will close at 9:00 p.m. (local time).

At midday, Egyptian state television broadcast footage showing al-Sisi casting his ballot at a polling station in eastern Cairo.

Pro-regime television channels showed voters lining up outside polling stations amid a heavy security presence.

In a series of televised interviews, Egyptian officials urged members of the public to take part in the vote, describing the poll as a “patriotic obligation”.

Makram Mohammed Ahmed, head of Egypt’s state-run Supreme Media Council, described the reported high voter turnout as “the best response to the lies spread by Egypt’s detractors."

On social-media platforms, however, opposition activists questioned claims of high turnout, saying polling stations were largely empty and that state employees were being forced to cast ballots.

Activists were also quick to contrast Monday’s voter turnout with the throngs of Egyptians who turned out to vote in 2012 polls, which saw the election of Mohamed Morsi -- a Muslim Brotherhood leader -- as Egypt’s first-ever freely elected president.

Held a year after Egypt’s 2011 popular uprising that ended the autocratic regime of President Hosni Mubarak, the 2012 polls saw 13 candidates -- from a range of political backgrounds -- vie for the presidency.

In that election, some 25 million Egyptians cast ballots out of roughly 51 million eligible voters at the time.

Roughly 59 million Egyptians are eligible to vote in this year’s poll, which features only two candidates: al-Sisi and Musa Mustafa Musa, the head of a little-known liberal party.

This week’s polls are being held amid tight security, as Egyptian security forces continue to fight a deadly militant insurgency in the restive Sinai Peninsula.

It is widely believed that al-Sisi will win in a landslide, given that several high-profile would-be challengers -- including a popular former army chief -- were effectively sidelined in the run-up to the poll.

Egyptians living overseas cast ballots last week and final election results will be announced on Apr. 2.

A former defense minister, al-Sisi led a 2013 military coup that resulted in Morsi’s ouster and imprisonment.

One year later, he won early presidential polls with 97 percent of the vote, according to Egypt’s electoral commission.