Egypt's Sisi would lose to anyone in free elections, says potential contender to the president

A potential challenger to Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in elections next year has said the strongman could be beaten by anyone in a free vote.

Khaled Ali said in an interview with Reuters published on Wednesday that conditions in Egypt have deteriorated so badly that any candidate in the 2018 presidential elections could win.

"If we had fair elections, anyone could defeat Sisi," Ali said.

The lawyer said dire economic conditions, deteriorating security and a crackdown on political freedoms have led to Sisi losing much of his popular backing.

Ali is currently standing trial on public indecency charges over images of him "giving the finger" as he celebrated a victory in a case he brought against the Sisi government.

The 45-year-old was the main lawyer to bring a case against the government after it controversially agreed to hand over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia in April last year.

The agreement to transfer the islands of Tiran and Sanafir sparked rare street protests.

Ali ran in the 2012 election that brought to power Islamist President Mohammad Morsi, who was ousted a year later in a military coup led by Sisi.

Sisi came to power after winning presidential elections with 96 percent of the vote after standing largely uncontested.

Since then, rights and freedoms have been restricted, with rights groups and activists accusing Sisi of leading a brutal crackdown on Islamists and left-wing dissidents.

Ali has not formally announced that he will oppose Sisi in 2018 but has indicated he intends to, however, if convicted in the ongoing trial he would be barred from running.

Ali's 2018 candidacy would be a long shot, but it could win the support of hundreds of thousands of young people who participated in the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak but who are now vilified by regime media as foreign agents and saboteurs.

It could also win support among the millions of poor and middle-class Egyptians crushed by the steep rise in prices and services as a result of Sisi's ambitious economic reforms.

Eight members of Ali's left-wing Bread and Freedom Party have been detained since April on charges including "misusing social media to incite against the state" and "insulting the president".

"The regime is trying to make even caring about politics scary. They are trying to make it come with a high price," Ali said.