Egypt’s Sisi wins 97 percent of votes with no real opposition
Official results of Egypt’s presidential election show incumbent President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has won 97 percent of the vote, the same proportion he secured in 2014 but this time with a lower turnout.
The election commission said Monday that Sisi had won a total of 21.8 million votes in the election that ended Wednesday. His sole opponent, Moussa Mostafa Moussa, gained 656,534, less than the 1.8 million spoiled ballots.
The commission, which gave the results in a televised announcement, said the vote was free and fair.
However, there was widespread criticism about government efforts to get as many Egyptians as possible to polling stations. Local and international media reported that voters were offered incentives, including money and food, to cast their ballots while the failure to vote was portrayed as a betrayal of Egypt in local media.
The turnout in last week’s election was 41 percent, lower than the 47 percent recorded four years ago. That could be a potential setback for Sisi who sought to portray the election as a referendum on his efforts to overhaul Egypt’s economy over the past years and root out terrorism in the North African country.
The vote was also marred by allegations that real contenders for the election pulled out from the race because of an intimidation campaign by the government. Serious opposition contenders halted their campaigns in January while authorities arrested the main challenger whose campaign manager was also beaten up.
Sisi, a former army chief, came to power in 2014, one year after he led a coup that ousted Egypt’s first democratically-elected president Mohamed Morsi. The incumbent has faced growing criticism about his way of treating dissidents, especially those linked to Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement, which Sisi outlawed right after taking office.
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