REPORT: Sisi to win Egyptian election but seeks high turnout

Egyptians began voting on Monday in a presidential election set to deliver an easy win for incumbent Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, with turnout the main focus after all serious opposition withdrew complaining of repression.
 
Polling stations will be open for three days and Sisi, a former military commander, has urged Egyptians to vote, hinting that he sees the election as a referendum on his first four-year term, rather than a serious democratic contest.
 
Sisi, an ally of the United States, faces only one challenger who is a long-time supporter of the president.
 
Many Egyptians, as well as the country's Arab and Western allies, see him as vital to stability as unrest since 2011 has hurt the economy. However, his critics say he has presided over Egypt's worst crackdown on dissent and describe the vote as a charade.
 
Sisi, 63, who led the military's overthrow of Egypt's first democratically-elected president Mohamed Mursi in 2013, has cast his bid for a second term as a vote for stability and security. He is trying to defeat Islamist insurgents in the Sinai Peninsula and complete a series of mega-projects inaugurated with great fanfare since he came to power.
 
In early hours of the voting, witnesses said turnout was slow but on a normal business day most Egyptians are expected to vote after working hours.
 
A lower-than-expected turnout could suggest Sisi lacks a mandate to take more of the tough steps needed to revive the economy, which struggled after the 2011 revolution drove away tourists and foreign investors, both sources of hard currency.
 
Authorities have urged people to vote, ramping up nationalist rhetoric and painting participation as helping the fight against Islamists and other unspecified enemies.
 
"Your vote is a bullet in the heart of your enemy," Monday's front page of the state-owned al-Gomhouria newspaper read. Prime Minister Sherif Ismail told state TV as he voted: "People must turn out and participate with force".
 
A 76-year-old voter, Saad Shahata, said at a polling station in Monofiya province north of Cairo: "We're coming to support President Sisi. Anyone who doesn't participate in the vote is a traitor."