Egyptians will head to the polls on March 26-28 in the first round of a presidential election, National Elections Authority chief Lasheen Ibrahim said Monday. A second round will be held on April 24-26 if required, he told a news conference in Cairo.

Ibrahim said the commission would accept applications from presidential hopefuls between January 20 and 29. "The provisional list of candidates and the numbers of their supporters will be published" in state-run newspapers Al-Ahram and Al-Akhbar on January 31, he said. Egyptians living abroad are to cast their votes on March 16-18, he added, with second round ballots on April 19-21 if necessary.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2018