Presidential elections in Egypt are on the way, and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has already picked up 85% of the ex-pat vote.
Of course, he has very little competition.
He is opposed by only one other candidate: Socialist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, an opposition activist during the eras of Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak, who was jailed during the terms of both presidents.
Egypt’s presidential elections are set for May 26-27.
Two police officers and two civilians were injured Saturday when a “homemade” bomb exploded at a rally for el-Sisi in Cairo, AP reported.
The former Egyptian army field marshal and defense minister was not there, however; he has restricted his appearances to television programs and interviews for security reasons.
Thus far two assassination plots have been uncovered, el-Sisi said in an Egyptian television interview, but gave no details. He accused the Muslim Brotherhood in connection with the plot and that under his regime the organization would no longer exist, “just like that.”
Former president Mohammed Morsi, backed by the Muslim Brotherhood, was the first democratically-elected president to enter office following the January 25 revolution that ended the regime of President Hosni Mubarak. Last June, el-Sisi removed Morsi from his post after he had spent one year in office due to a groundswell of grassroots protests throughout the country.
Since that time the country has been run by a national council but the Muslim Brotherhood withheld its support, instead choosing to continuing protests and clashes with security personnel.
More than 16,000 members of the movement and other radical Islamists have been arrested, according to Aljazeera, and hundreds of others have died in the violence.