Egyptian President announces re-election bid for third term

Cairo, Oct 3 : Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi has announced his re-election bid for a third term in office in the upcoming polls scheduled for December.

"Just as I responded to the call of the Egyptians before, today I respond to their call once again, and I announce that Im determined to nominate myself for a new presidential term," Sisi, who assumed power in 2014 in the aftermath of the 2013 coup, announced on Monday.

"I call on Egyptians to participate in the elections to choose the countrys president," Xinhua news agency quoted the 58-year-old leader as saying.

The election will be held on December 10-12, while Egyptians living abroad will cast their votes on December 1-3.

Candidate registration will begin from Thursday through October 14.

An estimated 65 million Egyptians are eligible to vote in the crucial polls.

Sisi won his first presidential elections in 2014 and was re-elected in 2018.

In 2019, constitutional amendments stretched the presidential term to six years from four and exceptionally allowed him to run for a third term.

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