The percentage of Egyptians aiming to participate in the upcoming presidential elections has risen, with more youths now backing Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, say findings by Egyptian polling centre Baseera.

According to Baseera's poll, conducted in cooperation with Al-Haya channel's "Yahdoth fi Masr" (Happening in Egypt) TV programme, 87 percent of respondents said they will cast their votes, nine percent said they will not and four percent were undecided.

Egypt's 2014 presidential elections – scheduled to take place on 26-27 May locally, with expats due to vote overseas on 15-18 May – will see only two candidates face off: former army chief Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Nasserist politician Hamdeen Sabahi.

The reasons mentioned by the boycotters ranged from a lack of conviction with either contender to a certainty that individual votes will bear no impact on the result, while the rest said they do not carry the valid personal documentation required for voting. 

Asked whom they would vote for if elections were held tomorrow, 76 percent of respondents chose El-Sisi, 2 percent Sabahi and 15 percent were undecided. Seven percent refused to answer.

Although Egyptians in older age brackets constitute El-Sisi's main supporting faction – with 78 percent of voters aged 50+ years giving him their votes – the percentage of youth aged 18-29 years willing to support the former army chief has risen to 73 percent, the poll has revealed.

The findings also indicate that the percentage of youths who support Sabahi has reached 4 percent, compared to 1 percent among Egyptians aged 50+ years.

According to Baseera, this poll was conducted in all of the nation's governorates using both cellular and landline phones on a probability sample of 2000 citizens aged 18 and above. All interviews took place from 10 to 11 May 2014.