President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi widely expected to win reelection CAIRO: Egypt will hold a presidential vote on December 10-12, election officials said Monday, at a time the Arab world’s most populous country is mired in a painful economic crisis. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, a former army chief in power for nearly a decade, has yet to formally announce his candidacy, but state-aligned media has already published messages of support from pro-government entities. El-Sisi, 68, was first elected in 2014 and then won a 2018 vote. Only two other candidates have so far declared their intention to run this time, including opposition politician Ahmed Al-Tantawi. Farid Zahran, president of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, has also announced his intention to run. The election had initially been expected in the spring of 2024. The vote will be held “on December 10, 11 and 12,” said National Election Authority chairman Judge Walid Hassan Hamza. Hopefuls can apply from October, with the candidate list to be finalized by November 9. The campaign period runs until November 29 and the winner will be announced on December 18. Egypt has battled its worst-ever economic crisis since early last year. The currency has lost half its value since March 2022 in a series of devaluations that have sent up consumer prices in the import-dependent economy. Last year, the International Monetary Fund approved a $3 billion loan for Egypt conditioned on “a permanent shift to a flexible exchange rate regime.” The government has kept the exchange rate pegged at around 31 Egyptian pounds to the dollar since January. But prices have continued to skyrocket as a parallel currency market surged amid a severe foreign exchange shortage. Annual inflation reached an all-time high for the third month in a row in August, hitting 39.7 percent. El-Sisi’s government has announced a series of social protection measures and raises to the minimum wage in attempts to cushion the economic blow.