In Egypt's election, turnout provides the only suspense

CAIRO – Egyptians are heading to the polls but the presidential election this time is not about who wins — that was settled long ago — but about how many people bother to cast ballots.

Voting starts on Monday and is to last three days.

Authorities hope enough people will vote for President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to lend legitimacy to an election in which the only other candidate is an obscure politician who has made no effort to challenge him.

Cairo streets are lined with campaign banners and posters extolling el-Sissi, who has done little in the way of traditional campaigning, and has not publicly mentioned his ostensive challenger, Moussa Mustafa Moussa.

Several other presidential hopefuls who had stepped forward earlier this year have either been arrested or pressured to withdraw.