Overwhelming victory for Sisi in Egyptian poll
Print Edition
WITH nearly all votes counted, Egypt’s former military chief has won a crushing victory over his sole opponent in the country’s presidential election with more than 92 percent of the votes, according to results announced by his campaign yesterday. The interim president said the turnout reached 46 percent.
But the turnout figure raised questions of the vote’s integrity after the state — following widespread reports of empty polling stations during the scheduled two days of voting — abruptly added a third day to beef up the numbers.
The victory by retired field marshal Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi was never in doubt, but the career infantry officer had pushed for a strong turnout to bestow legitimacy on his ouster last July of Egypt’s first freely elected president, the Islamist Mohammed Morsi.
Yesterday, Interim President Adly Mansour declared that legitimacy had been achieved. He put turnout at 46 percent and said it showed “a broad consensus” for the political roadmap transition set by the military after Morsi’s ousting. He said voting was free of any “serious misconduct.”
That rate is lower than the 52 percent turnout in the 2012 presidential election that Morsi won — and lower than the bar Sisi himself set in his last campaign interview, when he said he wanted more than 40 million of the country’s 54 million registered voters to cast ballots so he can “show the world” his support.
Islamists, once the country’s most powerful political machine, had called a boycott, as had some more secular “revolutionary” youth groups.
Still, Sisi can genuinely claim he comes into office with an impressive vote tally — his campaign said he won 23.38 million votes. That’s significantly more than the 13 million that Morsi won two years ago. His sole opponent, leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, received 736,000 votes, less than the 1.03 million invalid ballots cast, according to the figures.
After polls closed, several thousand Sisi supporters celebrated in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, birthplace of the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. There were celebrations in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and a string of other cities north of the capital and in the oasis province of Fayoum southwest of Cairo.
Unusual measures
But the unusual measures taken by the government to drum out voters raised skepticism over the extent of support.
The first day of voting saw reports of a meager 15 percent turnout, prompting officials to declare the next day a public holiday to get people to the polls, while threatening fines on those who didn’t vote. On the extra, third day, bus and trains were free to allow people to return to home districts and cast ballots.
Sabahi protested the extension, saying it aimed to “distort” the will of the people.
Critics said the lack of enthusiasm at the polls was in part due to apathy among even Sisi supporters, knowing that his victory was a foregone conclusion.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
