What attracts Egyptians to military leaders - even at the expense of democratic freedoms?

The head of the army, General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has effectively been running Egypt for the past year - after deposing the first democratically elected president.

This week he announced his candidacy for the top job. There have been rallies supporting him and his fight against what he calls terrorism. But there have also been protests against Sisi and the crackdown he has led against his opponents.

Some of those opponents are followers of the president Sisi deposed, Mohamed Morsi, and the organisation he represented, the Muslim Brotherhood. Others are simply unhappy with the way the military deposed an elected government.

There appears to be no serious challenger to Sisi in the contest for the presidency. He would continue the tradition of Egypt being led by a former military man.

Is it Sisi the man who people support - or the organisation he represents? And if he wins, will Egypt be repeating the mistakes of the past?

Presenter: Mike Hanna

Guests: Tarek Masoud - a Middle East specialist at Harvard University and author of "Counting Islam: Religion, Class, and Elections in Egypt.

Hassan Nafaa - head of political science at Cairo University

Samia Harris - the founder of the pressure group Democracy for Egypt

Source: Al Jazeera