Early count shows Sisi sweeping presidential poll

 Egypt has ended its third and final day of voting in presidential elections. Ballot counting began immediately after the polling stations close; with initial results on Wednesday showing that the country’s former military chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi had won a landslide victory.

Sisi’s campaign team said he had won about 95 percent of the ballots collected from nearly half of the polling stations. It also said Sisi had already received more than 10.5 million votes, while his sole rival, leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahy received about 350,000.

Sisi’s popularity has surged since the military toppled former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last July. The harsh security crackdown that followed has left hundreds of protesters dead and thousands of others in detention. Morsi himself is also in prison and faces several charges.