Cairo, April 19 (IANS): Egypt's leftist leader Hamdeen Sabahy Saturday officially registered for running in the upcoming presidential elections slated for late May, his spokeswoman said.

"We submitted to the election commission today 30,000 popular supporting statements from 17 governorates across Egypt to officially register Sabahy as a presidential candidate," Xinhua quoted the spokesperson as saying.

Egypt's presidential election law requires at least 25,000 statements from citizens who support the candidate in at least 15 governorates nationwide.

Although Sabahy was the first to announce his intention to compete in the upcoming presidential race, he was the second to have officially registered for the race after former military chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi.

Sabahy's bid is seen as a challenge for Sisi who enjoys massive popularity since he led the ouster of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last July.

Many experts expect Sisi to garner an easy win in the presidential election slated for May 26 and 27.