Historic vote in Egypt

Polls closed on Monday after a relatively uneventful first day of voting in Egypt's presidential election. It's the country's first presidential vote since the ouster of its first democratically-elected leader, Mohammed Morsi, last July.

Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood boycotted Monday's voting, along with the disillusioned revolutionary youth who fear Sissi will become another autocrat in the mold of longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak, who was overthrown in Egypt's 2011 revolution.

'Writing history'

Sissi is expected to handily defeat is leftist rival Hamdeen Sabbahi. The 59-year-old retired field marshal cast his own vote (pictured) minutes after polling stations opened for the country's 53 million eligible voters at 0600 UTC.

"The entire world is watching us, how Egyptians are writing history and their future today and tomorrow," Sissi told reporters. "Egyptians must be reassured that tomorrow will be very beautiful and great."

Sissi has been regarded as Egypt's de facto leader ever since he orchestrated the coup to topple Morsi in the wake of mass protests against the Islamist president. The country has been struggling with an economic crisis and internal violence in the wake of two significant forced changes of government since Mubarak fled office in February 2011.

Crackdown on dissent

The presidential election is viewed as a choice between stability and the freedoms promised following Mubarak's removal. Sissi has said "true democracy" would take a couple of decades, and he's indicated that protests disrupting the economy would not be tolerated.

He has pledged to eliminate the Brotherhood and has already cracked down heavily on the organization.

Human Rights Watch estimates that more than 20,000 political dissidents and Islamists are in detention. Well over 1,000 protesters and security forces have been killed in violent street clashes since Morsi's ouster.

Brotherhood boycott

The Brotherhood and its allies have called the latest vote "the election of the presidency of blood." The organization on Monday issued a statement saying their boycott of the poll was widely observed.

Witnesses and security officials said around 400 Morsi supporters staged a march against the election in the Cairo suburb of Kerdasa, where 14 policemen were killed last August after security forces killed hundreds of Morsi-supporters. Eleven Brotherhood supporters were also arrested in Alexandria when police broke up a protest there.

Monitors from the European Union and US-funded Democracy International are observing the election. More than 400,000 members of security forces have been deployed at polling stations nationwide.

Polls closed at 1800 UTC Monday and are scheduled to re-open at 0600 UTC Tuesday, with final results expected June 5. The presidential vote will be followed by parliamentary elections later this year.

dr/kms (AFP, AP, Reuters, dpa)