- There are just two candidates in Egypt’s presidential election, with polling due on May 26, 27
- Ex-general Abdel Fattah el-Sisi faces left-leaning politician Hamdeen Sabahi
- The election follows last year’s ouster of Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsy
- CNN’s Reza Sayah says both candidates have generally remained vague on policy details
Cairo, Egypt (CNN) — Egyptians are scheduled to head to the polls to vote for their next president on Monday and Tuesday.
There will be just two candidates, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Hamdeen Sabahi.
Egypt had an election recently. So why are they having another one?
Egyptians are voting again because Mohamed Morsy — Egypt’s first freely elected president — was removed from power last year in a popular military coup.
Morsy’s ouster last July was the culmination of a months-long petition campaign to remove him from office and days of mass demonstrations against the former Muslim Brotherhood leader.
Critics accused Morsy of hijacking the 2011 revolution, pushing aside moderate and liberal voices, and botching Egypt’s already ailing economy.
Morsy rejected the allegations and accused Egypt’s military backed establishment and Mubarak-era loyalist of undermining his presidency.
In a remarkable reversal of fortune the man who removed Morsy from power – then army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi – is now heavily favored to win the presidential election.
Morsy and scores of fellow members of the Muslim Brotherhood are in prison facing a variety of charges.
How will Muslim Brotherhood supporters vote?
The Muslim Brotherhood is not represented in the election, which is due in large part to an aggressive campaign by Egyptian authorities to eliminate the movement from Egypt’s political landscape.
Despite initial promises of an inclusive transition to a democratically elected government, Egypt’s military backed interim government banned the Muslim Brotherhood last year and declared it a terrorist organization.
Today most of the group’s leadership is either in jail, in hiding, or taking refuge outside Egypt.
Both candidates – Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Hamdeen Sabahi – have promised to keep the Brotherhood out of Egyptian politics if elected president.
The Strong Egypt Party – led by former Muslim Brotherhood leader Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh – has decided to boycott the vote.
The ultra-conservative Salafist Nour Party supported the 2012 election of Mohamed Morsy but is now drawing criticism from Islamist groups for supporting candidate el-Sisi.
What are the policies of each candidate?
Both candidates have generally remained vague on policy details, choosing instead to make populist promises that play well in television interviews.
And, both promise to fix Egypt’s failing economy, though neither has detailed how they plan to create jobs, generate revenue, and cut costly food and fuel subsidies — a move many fear will anger Egypt’s poor.
El-Sisi vows to keep Egypt safe by
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