CAIRO (AFP) - Egypt's ex-army chief and leading presidential candidate Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Monday the Muslim Brotherhood movement of deposed leader Mohamed Mursi was "finished" in Egypt and would not return if he was elected.

Following the Sisi-led army ouster of Mursi in July, the Brotherhood has been banned, its leaders arrested and more than 1,400 people, mostly Islamist backers of Mursi, killed in protest clashes.

"I did not finish it, you Egyptians finished it," Mr Sisi said in his first television interview since announcing his candidacy when asked if the Brotherhood was "finished."

Asked if he were saying it would not exist under his presidency, he responded: "Yes." Mr Sisi said Egyptians had rejected the group's ideology and would not allow it to return.