A recent survey conducted by an Egyptian polling centre says that just over half of the population would vote for army chief Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in the country's upcoming presidential elections. Forty-five percent of Egyptians said they were undecided as to who they would vote for. The poll, conducted by the Egyptian Centre for Public Opinion Research (Baseera), drew from a sample of 2,062 citizens from the age of 18 and above, with interviews conducted between 27 February and 4 March. Regarding future turnout at polling centres, 93 percent said they were willing to vote in the presidential elections, while 16 percent said they would not vote and 6 percent were still undecided. Eighty-six percent of residents from Lower Egypt said they would vote, as compared to 79 percent from Upper Egypt. Notably, the poll shows that youth below 30 years of age have expressed a lower tendency to participate in the elections. El-Sisi is expected this week to announce his candidacy for the presidential elections. To date, the only presidential candidate to declare his campaign is Nasserist figure Hamdeen Sabbahi, who has been an outspoken critic of El-Sisi's presidential hopes, arguing that he should retain his post as defence minister and not enter politics. "I am sure that the right decision after the revolution is to establish a state that serves the people, and not a state that is served by people," Sabbahi said in February. Sabbahi, a 2012 elections contender, didn't fare well in the latest Baseera poll – 1 percent of those interviewed said they would vote for him. Meanwhile, leftist activist Khaled Ali said on Sunday that he would not stand in the upcoming polls. Egypt's interim President Adly Mansour announced last week that the polls would conclude before July 17, thus paving the way for parliamentary elections. Mansour's announcement came shortly after the issuing of an elections law, which came under fire for granting immunity to the Presidential Elections Committee (PEC), the judicial body tasked with supervising the polls. Critics have argued that eliminating appeals for the election's results is "unconstitutional." Source : Ahram online
