In the Shadow of the War in Gaza: The Egyptian Presidential Elections have Begun

The polls in Egypt's presidential elections opened this morning (Sunday), with voting lasting three days and ending this coming Tuesday. The election results are expected to be published on December 23, and if no candidate wins 50 percent of the votes, another round will be held on January 16.

According to estimates in the country, the incumbent President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi is expected to win another term, which will be his third. During his last term, El-Sisi passed an amendment to the Egyptian constitution, which extended the terms of the president from 4 years to 6 - so that if he wins, the 68-year-old al-Sisi will remain in power at least until 2030.

Three other candidates are running against El-Sisi: the chairman of the "Republican People's Party" Hazam Omar, the chairman of the "New Wafd Party" Abdel-Sanad Yamama, and the chairman of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party Farid Zahran. 4 more candidates declared during the election campaign that they would run for president, but they withdrew from the race or were disqualified by the election committee.