Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was elected for a third term after elections on Monday and called the results of the vote a rejection of the “inhumane war” in Gaza, The Guardian reports.
The president was able to take the top post after Egypt’s constitution was amended in 2019 to increase the presidential term to six years from four and allow Sisi to run for a third term.
He won 89.6 per cent of the vote, according to the National Electoral Authority. The election came as Egypt struggles with a slow-moving economic crisis and grapples with the risk of the Israel-Gaza war spreading to Egypt’s neighbouring Sinai Peninsula.
Many residents of the Arab world’s most populous country expressed indifference to the 10-12 December elections, saying the outcome was a foregone conclusion.
Some voters said the conflict between Israel and Gaza prompted them to vote for Sisi, who called the war Egypt’s main problem. Sisi said in a speech after results were announced:
Egyptians lined up to vote not just to choose their president for the next term but to express their rejection of this inhumane war to the entire world.
In addition to Sisi, three other candidates contested the election, but none of them was widely publicised. The best-known of the potential contenders withdrew from the election in October. Hossam Bahgat, head of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), an independent group, said:
There were no elections, Sisi used the entire state apparatus and security agencies to prevent any serious contender from even running.
Sisi, a former general, was elected in 2014 and was re-elected in 2018 with 97 per cent of the vote both times.
Some admire the infrastructure development, including a new capital built from scratch in the desert east of Cairo, which Sisi says marks the beginning of a “new republic.” Others, however, see the city as an expensive excess. Soaring inflation, chronic foreign exchange shortages and a growing debt burden have led to growing criticism of economic policies. Sisi said in a taped speech aired on state television with little fanfare:
I renew my pact with you, to together exert every effort to continue building the new republic, that we hope to erect according to a shared vision.
