THE former army general who toppled Egypt’s first freely elected president will face a leftist politician in next month’s presidential election, as they were the only candidates to enter, the committee organizing the vote said Sunday.

    The committee had received paperwork from former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and former parliamentarian and presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi, its head told a news conference, hours after the deadline for nominations had passed.

    The elections will be held in a barren political climate, three years after the uprising that overthrew autocrat Hosni Mubarak raised hopes of a robust democracy in the biggest Arab nation.

    There will be no Islamist candidate, in contrast to the hotly contested 2012 presidential race, which featured more than a dozen rivals from across the political spectrum and was won by Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood.

    Sisi, who deposed Morsi last year, is expected to win the vote easily. He has gained cult-like adulation from supporters who see him as a savior who can end the political turmoil dogging the country since the army-backed popular uprising that ended Mubarak’s three-decade rule.(SD-Agencies)