Egypt elections: Abdul Fattah al-Sisi set to win second term as president
Egypt’s President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has been re-elected for a second four-year term, preliminary results suggest.
State media said Sisi had secured a landslide victory against his sole challenger, Moussa Mustafa Moussa, winning more than 90% of the vote.
An Egyptian man holds up a portrait of ex-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. AFP PHOTO / MOHAMED EL-SHAHED
After an election campaign in which five of Sisi’s potential challengers were prevented from getting on the ballot, the battle in this election is for turnout. Sixty million people are eligible to vote in Egypt. Yet despite the lengthy voting period, with the polls open from 9 am to 9 pm every day, voters appeared in short supply.
Sisi led the military’s overthrow of Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi, in 2013 following mass protests against his rule. In an attempt to boost turnout on the final day of voting on Wednesday, the election commission kept polling stations open for an extra hour.
Read: Kremlin: A new power player in the Middle East?
It also warned that people who did not vote would be fined 500 Egyptian pounds ($28; £20) – a threat rarely acted upon in previous polls.
Source: BBC, Daily News Egypt Akshat Verma The Kootneeti Team - Africa Desk
