Egyptian army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi formally resigned from the military Wednesday, paving the way for his long-anticipated run for the presidency.

Al-Sisi announced the decision in a TV broadcast, the BBC reports.

The Egyptian army deposed president Mohamed Morsi last year in the midst of mass protests against Morsi’s increasingly authoritarian rule, killing over a thousand of the former president’s Muslim Brotherhood supporters in widespread unrest. Broadly supported by Egyptians who opposed Mohammed Morsi’s presidency, al-Sisi is likely to win presidential elections expected later this year.

[BBC]

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