CAIRO - Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi won 89.6 per cent of the vote in an election held in December, the National Election Authority announced on Dec 18.
The win secures him a third term in office, until 2030.
Turnout for the polls, held from Dec 10 to Dec 12, was 66.8 per cent, the election body added.
The election was marked by a major effort to mobilise voters, despite widespread apathy, and drive turnout above the 41 per cent recorded in the previous election in 2018.
The polls took place as Egypt struggles with a slow-burning economic crisis and tries to manage the risk of spillover from the war in Gaza, which borders Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
Some voters said the eruption of conflict in Gaza had encouraged them to vote for Mr Sisi, who has long presented himself as a bulwark of stability in a volatile region.
It is an argument that has also proved effective, with Gulf and Western allies providing financial support to his government.
The polls featured three other candidates, none of them high profile.
The most prominent potential challenger halted his run in October, saying officials and thugs had targeted his supporters.
Those accusations were dismissed by the National Election Authority.
Mr Sisi, a former general, has overseen a sweeping crackdown on dissent across the political spectrum since leading the 2013 overthrow of Egypt’s first democratically elected leader, Mr Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Mr Sisi was elected to the presidency in 2014, and re-elected in 2018, both times with 97 per cent of the vote.
The Constitution was amended in 2019, extending the presidential term to six years from four, and allowing Mr Sisi to stand for a third term.
The authorities have sought to address criticism of Egypt’s human rights record with steps including by opening a national dialogue and releasing some prominent prisoners, steps that critics have dismissed as largely cosmetic.
Many Egyptians expressed indifference about the election, saying the result was a foregone conclusion.
Reuters reporters who covered the vote in Cairo, Giza, Suez and the Sinai Peninsula witnessed people being bussed in to some polling stations and lingering outside them waving national flags or banners as patriotic music played.
Other polling stations appeared quiet.
A Reuters reporter saw bags of flour, rice and other basic commodities being handed out to people who voted in Giza.
Egypt’s state media body has said the vote was a step towards political pluralism, and the authorities have denied violations of electoral rules. REUTERS
