Egypt to hold presidential elections May 26-27

Source: CNN

(CNN) -- Egypt's presidential elections will take place on May 26 and 27, Egyptian media reported Sunday, citing an announcement by the country's Presidential Elections Commission.

Army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi announced Wednesday that he would resign and declared his candidacy in the national polls. El-Sisi, 59, Egypt's defense minister, had to leave the army in order to run for president.

El-Sisi deposed President Mohamed Morsy of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's first freely elected leader, last year following mass protests against the latter's rule.

The officer is popular among Egyptians who supported the army's decision to remove Morsy from power a year into his term -- seeing el-Sisi as the kind of strong man needed to end the turmoil dogging Egypt since a popular uprising in 2011 ended Hosni Mubarak's three decades of one-man rule.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/30/world/meast/egypt-elections/