Egypt’s Sisi sweeps to third term as president with 89.6% of vote
SMA NEWS – CAIRO
Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has swept to a third, six-year term as Egypt’s president, winning 89.6% of votes in an election in which he faced no serious challengers, the National Election Authority announced on Monday.
The election 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 Sisi.
Voting in Egypt was held over three days on Dec. 10-12, with the state and domestic media pushing hard to boost turnout, which the election authority said had reached 66.8% — above the 41% recorded at the last presidential election in 2018.
The election featured three other candidates, none of them high profile.
Egypt’s state media body has said the vote was a step towards political pluralism and authorities have denied violations of electoral rules.
He was elected to the presidency in 2014, and re-elected in 2018, both times with 97% of the vote. The constitution was amended in 2019, extending the presidential term to six years from four.
Some admire an infrastructure drive including a new capital built from scratch in the desert east of Cairo.
El-Sisi’s backers say security is paramount, and that some groups have benefited under his rule.
That included women, said Nourhan El-Abbassy, assistant secretary-general of the youth branch of the pro-Sisi Homat AlWatan party.
“We would love to see more females in key positions, more female ministers in the cabinet as long as they’re qualified, and revisions of personal rights laws that have to do with issues like marriage, divorce and alimony,” she said.
