Egypt polls: El-Sissi's presidential bid gets major boot

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's re-election campaign announced on Saturday he had received the backing of 424 members of 596-seat lower house of the country's parliament for his bed for a third term in office.

El-Sissi confirmed earlier this week he will run for a new term in elections scheduled for December, entering the race as the clear favourite and as his government wrestles with rising inflation and mounting debt.

Egypt will hold a presidential election over three days on December 10-12, with a runoff on January 8-10 if no candidate secures more than 50% of the vote.

A handful of politicians have already announced their bids to run for the country’s highest post, but none poses a serious challenge to el-Sissi, who has ruled the country since 2014 and has faced criticism from the West over his country’s human rights record.