1.5m ballots spoilt in defiance as Egyptian president wins easily
ABDEL FATTAH EL-SISI has won his expected landslide victory in Egypt’s barely contested election – albeit with less than half of voters turning out and a million and a half people apparently spoiling their ballots.
The Egyptian president faced no real competition in the election and preliminary figures show he won around 90 per cent of the vote. But turnout was only around 40 per cent, compared to 47 per cent four years ago.
Early figures showed that 6.5 per cent of voters – roughly 1.5million people – spoiled their ballots or filled them in incorrectly, in what appeared to be a small act of defiance in the booth. Only 2.9 per cent voted for Moussa Mostafa Moussa, the token challenger.
Official results will be announced on April 2. There was no immediate comment from Mr Sisi or his campaign. “The people have chosen their president,” ran the front page headline of al-Ahram, the state-run newspaper.
Small groups of Sisi supporters gathered in central Cairo after polling stations closed to wave flags and dance to patriotic music. The celebrations were dampened by a fierce sandstorm that swept through the city.
The lower turnout came despite a widespread campaign to coax and coerce voters to the polls. Voters were threatened with fines for not showing up and in some cases reportedly forced to the polling by police in an effort to drive up turnout. Others were offered small bribes in cash or food to vote for Mr Sisi. In one video that went viral yesterday, a student named Ibrahim Hassan claimed that a police sergeant stopped him in the street and forced him on to a bus to a polling station, where he was ordered to vote.
He said he voted for both candidates to spoil his ballot.
“I didn’t go to vote by my own free will and I would never for Sisi of my own free will,” he said.
Diaa Rashwan, the head of the state information service, said some voters might have been offered rewards to vote but said this would not affect the election results, they were “not systematic” and would have been “carried out by individuals and not the state”.
Opposition figures have warned they expect Mr Sisi will move to amend Egypt’s constitution to scrap the clause limiting presidents to two terms.
Figures published by Parlmany, a news website, said 23.3million people voted. Mr Sisi won 21 million votes with 90.5 per cent of the vote while Mr Moussa won 683,000 votes.