World leaders congratulate El Sisi on Egypt election victory
▶ President hails result that keeps him in office until 2030 after record high turnout at polls
World leaders have congratulated Abdel Fattah El Sisi on winning another term as President of Egypt.
The former army general, first elected in 2014, won 89.6 per cent of the vote – 39.70 million votes – the National Election Commission said.
UAE President Sheikh Mohamed sent a message of congratulations to Mr El Sisi yesterday and wished further success for him and his country.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, also sent a message of congratulations, wishing Mr El Sisi and the people of Egypt continued prosperity and stability.
A message for success and prosperity came from Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Ruler of Sharjah.
Mr El Sisi also received congratulations from leaders outside the Middle East, including India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The results were “a clear indication of the widespread recognition of your merits in addressing the pressing socio-economic and foreign policy challenges facing Egypt”, Mr Putin said in a message to Mr El Sisi.
His re-election comes at a time when the country faces economic challenges and concerns grow about the Israel-Gaza war.
Egypt’s pound has lost more than 50 per cent of its value since March last year and a foreign currency crunch has suppressed imports and hit local industries dependent on imported raw materials.
Mr El Sisi was challenged at the polls by three politicians – Hazem Omar, Farid Zahran and Abdel Sanad Yamamah.
Together, they collected about 4.5 million votes, or 10.4 per cent of all ballots, according to figures from the election commission.
Turnout was at a record high of 66.8 per cent, commission chairman Hazem Badawy said at a briefing.
There are about 67 million registered voters in Egypt, a country of 113 million people, according to Worldometers.
Mr El Sisi will now serve as president until 2030.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has been re-elected in a landslide and will remain leader of his country until 2030.
The former army general, who was first elected in 2014, won 89.6 per cent of the vote, or about 40 million ballots.
His three challengers at the polls – Hazem Omar, Farid Zahran and Abdel Sanad Yamamah – received fewer than five million votes between them, the National Election Commission said.
“Dear sons of Egypt, my pride in you has no end or boundaries,” Mr El Sisi said in a televised address to the nation soon after the election results were announced.
“Your choice of me to lead the nation is a mandate that I shoulder before God and you.”
Turnout was at a record high of 66.8 per cent, the commission’s chairman Hazem Badawy told a media briefing.
There are about 67 million registered voters in Egypt, a country of 113 million people.
“It’s a historic day on which we harvest our nation’s democratic fruit,” the commission’s executive director, Ahmed El Bendary, said at the briefing.
The election “reflected the sincerity and devotion for the nation”, he added.
The re-election of Mr El Sisi, 69, comes as the country faces economic challenges and concerns among Egyptians, as well as people across the region, are growing over the potential for the Israel-Gaza war to spread.
Mr El Sisi did not campaign for re-election. Instead, he kept a high profile in the media through meetings with foreign leaders and senior dignitaries who visited Cairo to discuss the
Gaza war, which broke out on October 7.
His criticism of Israel over the deaths of more than 19,400 Palestinians in the war, along with his repeated warnings against pushing Gazans into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, bolstered his image as a supporter of the Palestinian cause.
Mr El Sisi is able to serve a third term in office because of constitutional amendments proposed by Egypt’s Parliament in 2018.
Adopted in a referendum the following year, the changes extended presidential terms from four to six years, but kept the number of terms a president can serve to two.
A clause added to the constitution disregarded the four years Mr El Sisi served between 2014 and 2018. His priorities after the election include taking steps to boost the economy, which has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and the fallout from the RussiaUkraine war.
Opponents have blamed the country’s economic difficulties on borrowing and infrastructure projects that cost billions of dollars.
Egypt’s pound has lost more than 50 per cent of its value since March last year.
A persistent foreign currency crunch has suppressed imports and affected local industries dependent on foreign material.
His three challengers secured less than five million votes between them, Egypt’s election commission has said