Al Sissi set for landslide victory
WITH OUTCOME A FORGONE CONCLUSION, FOCUS SHIFTS TO TURNOUT
With outcome a forgone conclusion, focus shifts to turnout
Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi is poised for a landslide win in this week’s election, which pits him against a virtually obscure politician.
Mousa Mustafa, the head of the small Al Ghad Party, is the sole challenger to Al Sissi, who is eyeing a second and final term in the balloting due to be held over three days beginning tomorrow.
Mustafa is viewed as a backer of Al Sissi. “No one denies Al Sissi’s popularity and his huge accomplishments. It is not easy for the Egyptian people to accept a competitor to President Al Sissi,” Mustafa told semiofficial newspaper Al Ahram recently.
With the outcome of the vote a forgone election, the turnout is seen as a gauge of popularity of Al Sissi, who has been ruling Egypt since 2014.
Hit in popularity
The former defence minister’s popularity has suffered due to the float of the local pound and adoption of austerity measures that have unleashed record inflation rates and hikes in the prices of different goods.
Al Sissi, 63, has defended the steps as unavoidable in order to reinvigorate the Egyptian economy that has been battered by the unrest that followed the 2011 uprising. The measures earned Egypt a badly needed $12 billion (Dh44 billion) loan over three years from the International Monetary Fund.
Worried about a low turnout, politicians loyal to Al Sissi have in recent weeks intensely campaigned for massive balloting, citing the Egyptian leader’s track record.
Al Sissi is credited with restoring stability to Egypt. He has also launched a series of megaprojects across the nation. They include the building of an extension to the historic Suez Canal as part of an ambitious project to turn Egypt into a global logistical and trade hub.
Over the past four years, Al Sissi’s administration has constructed a long network of roads and created an investor-friendly environment. Under Al Sissi, several major electricity stations have also been built, ending an acute energy crunch in this country of nearly 95 million.
In 2015, Egypt started building a new capital aimed at easing the pressure on age-old Cairo.
“Al Sissi challenged everyone in order to head off a civil war in Egypt on June 30,” said prominent lawmaker Mustafa Bakri, a staunch backer of the Egyptian president.
Popular mandate
Bakri was referring to the Al Sissi-led army’s 2013 overthrow of Islamist president Mohammad Mursi following enormous protests against his divisive rule.
“We should not let down this man [Al Sissi]. We have to show gratitude to him and strike back at the traitors,” Bakri told a rally last week. Significantly, the rally in the southern province of Aswan was entitled “With you for Egypt’s sake”.
A string of well-attended rallies have been held across Egypt in recent weeks, with their focus being to drum up support for mass voting.
The opposition has called for boycotting the election, branding it a sham.
Over recent weeks, state and private television stations have been calling on Egyptians to “come out and participate” in voting. “If you have no voice [vote] in your country, your country will have no voice,” runs a commercial aired amid soap opera breaks.
Al Sissi’s campaigners have made a high voter turnout a key objective.
“The aim of increasing the percentage of vote participation is as important as the aim of President Al Sissi’s win,” said spokesman for Al Sissi’s official campaign Mohammad Baha. “Egyptians’ large participation in this important constitutional obligation will be the biggest answer to those who question Egyptians’ willpower,” Baha added in a statement.
On several occasions, Al Sissi has urged Egyptians to go to polls and vote freely.
“Massive vote will send a message to the entire world that Egypt is ruled by its people, who are able to choose whomever they want,” he said this week, pledging a fair election.
At least 59 million Egyptians are eligible to vote, according to official figures.