El-Sisi Urges Voter Turnout While Islamist Urge Election Boycott

Former Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Sunday called for a big turnout in a presidential election he is expected to win easily, countering a call for a boycott by allies of deposed Islamist president Mohamed Mursi, according to the Associated Press.

Sisi, who deposed Mursi after mass protests against his rule last July, faces only one competitor in the May 26-27 election: leftist Hamdeen Sabahi, the AP reported. He came third in the 2012 election won by Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Sisi stepped down from his position as head of the military and defence minister last month in order to run in the election, according to the AP.

His supporters see him as the kind of strong figure needed to stabilise a country in crisis and his opponents, mostly in the Islamist opposition, see him as the mastermind of a bloody coup that robbed power from Egypt's first freely-elected leader, the AP reported.

Sisi called on Egyptians to vote in "unprecedented numbers for the sake of Egypt", according to an official statement outlining comments he made during a meeting on Sunday with investors in the tourism industry, according to the AP.

An alliance of Islamist parties opposed to last year's military takeover had earlier issued a statement declaring their boycott of the election, describing it as "a farce" designed to appoint "the coup orchestrator" as president, the AP reported.

In a statement posted on Facebook, the National Alliance to Support Legitimacy also said it would not recognise election monitoring planned by "Western supporters of the coup," an apparent reference to the European Union, which has agreed to send an observation mission, according to the AP.

Egyptians last voted earlier this year in a referendum on a new constitution. It was approved by more than 98 percent of those who cast ballots, with a turnout of 39 percent, according to official results.