Sisi to win Egyptian election but seeks high turnout
CAIRO: Egyptians voted on Monday in a presidential election set to deliver an easy win for incumbent Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, with turnout the main focus after all serious opposition withdrew complaining of repression.
Sisi has urged Egyptians to vote, hinting that he sees the election as a referendum on his rule rather than a serious democratic contest.
Polling stations will be open for three days in an apparent effort to garner as many votes as possible for him. Many Egyptians, as well as the country’s Arab and Western allies including Washington, see Sisi as vital to stability as unrest since 2011 has hurt the economy.
However, his critics say he has presided over Egypt’s worst crackdown on dissent and describe the vote as a charade.
Sisi, 63, faces only one challenger who is a long-time supporter of the president. The former general, who led the military’s overthrow of Egypt’s first democratically-elected president Mohamed Mursi in 2013, is trying to defeat insurgents in the Sinai Peninsula and complete a series of mega-projects inaugurated with great fanfare since he came to power.
Authorities have ramped up nationalist rhetoric and painted participation in the election as helping the fight against extremists and other unspecified enemies.
The state-run Al Gomhouria newspaper’s front page on Monday read: “Your vote is a bullet in the heart of your enemy.”
A lower-than-expected turnout could suggest Sisi lacks a mandate to take more of the tough steps needed to revive the economy, which struggled after the 2011 revolution drove away tourists and foreign investors, both sources of hard currency. In early hours of the voting, witnesses said turnout was slow but on a normal business day most Egyptians are expected to vote after working hours.