Egypt: Almost Unchallenged al Sisi Re-elected

Incumbent President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has been re-elected for another four-year term in an election deserted by main opposition parties.
Official MENA news agency and other state media, namely Ahram and Akhbar el-Youm, have announced al-Sisi winner of the three-day presidential poll which ended Wednesday.

Al-Sisi is credited with 92 per cent of the votes while his sole challenger Moussa Mostafa Moussa only secured 721,000 votes out of the 23 million Egyptians who casted their ballots.

Al-Sisi won despite a low turnout put barely at over 47 per cent with 60 million registered. On the first two days of the polls, the turnout was put at about 21 percent. Despite extended voting hours and reports of attempts to entice people to cast their ballots with offers of food and money, and sometimes threats, the turnout remained low.

However, as it was predicted even before the ballot, al-Sisi won a second presidential term.
Main opposition candidates and potential challengers to the strong man bowed out before the beginning of the electoral process under threats, with a few, including former Chief of staff Sami Anan, having been arrested for “breaching the military law”.

The only challenger Moussa Mostafa Moussa, one of al-Sisi’s allies, filed his candidacy to remedy the situation as the elections were having no credibility with no opposition candidate in the race. Critics say it was a sham candidacy.

Al-Sisi had deposed the country’s first democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi, in 2013, in his capacity as defense minister.