The man widely expected to be Egypt’s next President is promising that the Muslim Brotherhood “will not exist” should he win this month’s election.  Widely popular and without a credible opponent, former military chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will likely get the chance to act on that promise.

Al-Sisi gave his first interview with Egyptian TV, telling reporters from the CBC and ONTV networks that there have been “two attempts to assassinate me.  I believe in fate.  I am not afraid.”  He did not say when the assassination attempts took place.

He also denied that he had any political ambitions when he ousted Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood from Egypt’s presidency last year.  Certainly, millions of dissatisfied Egyptians filled the streets demanding the unpopular Morsi step down.  But al-Sisi claims he changed his mind about the presidency when confronted with threats from both inside and outside Egypt.

“Whoever has an opportunity to come forward to protect this country, and this people and their future, had to come forward,” he said.

Egypt’s interim authorities outlawed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, and thousands of the group’s supporters have been arrested while hundreds were killed.  And several hundred were sentenced to death in controversial mass trials of alleged Muslim Brotherhood members.

Should al-Sisi defeat Leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, who came third in the 2012 election, al-Sisi will be the latest in a line of rulers stretching back to the 1950s who rose up through the military.