Egypt: Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi re-elected for a third presidential term

The National Elections Authority announced this Monday the results of the presidential vote in Egypt. According to official figures, the outgoing president, Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi, won the presidential election with 89.6% of the votes.

For a third time since he overthrew the Islamist Mohamed Morsi in 2013, the current head of state Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi was re-elected at the head of the country of the Pharaohs. According to the national elections authority, participation reached a rate ” unprecedented “ of 66.8% of Egypt’s 67 million voters.

For this election, some 67 million Egyptians were called to the polls from December 10 to 12 to choose a candidate among the four who were in the running. Indeed, in addition to Mr. Al-Sissi, three candidates generally unknown to the general public were in the running: Farid Zahran, from a small left-wing party, Abdel-Sanad Yamama, from the Neo-Wafd, a century-old but now marginal party, and Hazem Omar, of the Republican People’s Party.

According to AFP, this victory for Mr. Al-Sissi comes in the midst of the economic crisis in Egypt. Inflation is currently at 36.4% while the currency has lost half its value and the prices of some basic foods are increasing every week.

Two thirds of the population live below or just above the poverty line. In the 2014 and 2018 presidential elections, Abdel Fattah al-Sissi won with more than 96% of the votes.