Egypt has passed a law that will regulate the forthcoming presidential elections, which are expected to take place in April.

Parliamentary elections are due to be held after the presidential vote.

It is widely expected that Field Marshall Abdul Fattah al-Sisi will run for president, although as yet he has not officially announced his presidential bid.

Sisi hinted in early March that he would run for president, saying that he cannot ignore the wishes of the Egypt people if they want him to run for the leadership.

“Any person who loves Egypt and the Egyptians cannot turn his back to his people if he felt a genuine desire on the part of a large number of them to call on him to undertake a national assignment,” said a statement on Egypt’s state media service.

Earlier in the year, Egypt’s military authority, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, announced its approval of Sisi’s potential bid.

The planned elections are expected to take place less than a year since the former Muslim Brotherhood-backed president, Mohamed Mursi, was ousted from power on 3 July.

Since then, the Muslim Brotherhood organisation has been increasingly marginalised from Egyptian politics and secured widespread condemnation from the wider Arab region.

On 7 March, Saudi Arabia announced it was designating the brotherhood as a terrorist organisation. It is a move welcomed by Egypt’s government, which says it is a reflection of the “solidarity” between the two countries, according to state media.

In a further demonstration of strengthening Egypt-Gulf ties, Egypt has become the fourth Arab country to pull its ambassadors from Qatar, following Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE’s decision to withdraw their officials on 5 March. Egypt previously recalled its ambassador in February, but the government announced on 6 March that it would not be returning the diplomat to Doha.

The isolation of Qatar is said to be due to a dispute over the GCC region’s security policy and Doha’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood.