No outright winner is expected to emerge from the two-day vote, so a runoff is scheduled to take place for June 16-17 between the two top winners, according to AFP. Voters have 13 candidates to choose from. Among the contenders is former foreign minister and Arab League chief Amr Moussa, Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak’s last prime minister, Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate Mohamed Mursi faces competition from Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, a former Muslim Brotherhood leader and centrist Islamist candidate.

The main issue for voters is the Egyptian economy, as the net president will take over a struglling and stagnant economy. Nearly half of Egyptians live at or below the poverty line, defined as $2 per day, and youth unemployment is 25 per cent, according to Al Jazeera.

The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), in power since Mubarak’s ouster, has called on Egyptians to turn out en masse to the polls, while warning against any “violation”, Al Arabiya reports. “The participation of citizens in the presidential election is the best guarantee of the transparency and security of the electoral process,” Mohammed al-Assar, a member of the SCAF said.

According to the electoral rules laid down by the Presidential Elections Commission, candidates may can no longer appear on television, give media interviews or conduct any public activity that may influence voters in the 23 to 24 May election.

Candidates have been campaigning across the country for weeks while 
a ban on campaign activities, laid down by the Presidential Election Commission came into force for 48 hours before the vote. The SCAF has vowed to hand power to civilian rule bu July 1, after a president is elected.

Meanwhile, Former US President Jimmy Carter, head of the Carter Center rights group, arrived in Cairo Sunday leading a delegation from Paris that will stay in Egypt for one week to monitor the election. Egypt has welcomed 22 observers from the Carter Center to join 80 other people coming from different countries to monitor the first election after Hosni Mubarak resigned from office amid the uprising last year, according to Egypt Independent. Several other international observers arrived Sunday coming from New York and European cities.