CAIRO: Campaigning opens Saturday in Egypt for a May election likely to be won by the ex-army chief who deposed the elected president, after deadly bombings underscored tensions ahead of the vote.
The May 26-27 presidential poll, meant to restore elected rule following the July overthrow of Islamist Mohamed Morsi, is widely seen as a done deal that will place former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in power.
His only rival, Hamdeen Sabbahi, came third in the 2012 election which Morsi won, and faces a groundswell of support for Sisi since the ouster of the divisive Islamist leader.
Sabbahi says he represents the ideals of the 2011 uprising that overthrew veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak.
But more than three tumultuous year later, many voters yearn for a self proclaimed strong leader such as Sisi to restore stability.
Sisi, reviled by Morsi´s Islamist supporters, has vowed to stamp out a surge in militant attacks such as the two bombings on Friday that killed a policeman in the capital and a soldier in the Sinai Peninsula.
If he wins, he will restore a line of military men at the helm of the country that was briefly interrupted by the civilian Morsi´s year in power.
Morsi´s Muslim Brotherhood and the militants are expected to increase protests and attacks should Sisi win, despite the widest crackdown on Islamists in decades. At least 1,400 people, mostly Islamists, have been killed in street clashes, including hundreds on August 14 alone, while thousands have been jailed and placed on trials.
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