A former senior Egyptian army general has announced he will run against President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in this year’s presidential election, days after another high-profile contender pulled out.

Sami Anan, the former military chief of staff, plans to stand in the elections in March and is expected to formally announce his candidacy on Saturday.

Mr Anan led the Egyptian military from 2005 to 2012 and is well known in Egypt as part of the military junta which ruled the country after the 2011 revolution which overthrew longtime president Hosni Mubarak.

He was forced into retirement in 2012 by Mohammed Morsi, the country’s elected Muslim Brotherhood.

The former general went on to form the Arabism Egypt Party and he now intends to stand against his former army colleague, Mr Sisi.

Mr Sisi’s authoritarian government has cracked down on dissent and many expect the March elections to be a highly-choreographed process which ends in the president’s overwhelming re-election.