An airplane carrying a large poster of Egyptian presidential hopeful and former army chief Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi took off from Cairo Airport on Thursday as part of his campaign.



The plane – a rental paid for by businessman Ahmed Fadaly and members of the Independence Current, a pro-Sisi coalition – is to fly over Cairo and head to Upper Egypt.



The plane will land in Qena where, according to Fadaly, the largest electoral convention yet for El-Sisi in Upper Egypt is planned to unfold.



Local newspaper Al-Shorouq reported the cost of the airplane trip to be US$12,500.



Egypt's presidential elections kicked off Thursday with the expat vote. Internal voting is slated for 26 and 27 May. El-Sisi's only contender is Nasserist politician and former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi.



The official campaign for El-Sisi announced this week it had spent LE12 million on campaign advertisements to date. Sabahi's campaign has so far cost LE100,000.



El-Sisi is widely expected to win the elections. In an interview last week, he said he felt "comfortable" about his prospects of winning the vote.

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