Al Sisi wins third term in office with landslide victory

Egypt’s incumbent President Fattah al Sisi was declared Monday December 18 winner of “2024 presidential elections” with more than 89 per cent of votes, extending therefore his grip on power until 2030.

Head of Egypt’s National Elections Authority (NEA), Hazem Badawy, at a press conference said al Sisi garnered 89.6 of total votes.

Al Sisi is followed by Hazem Omar, head of the People’s Republican Party, who won 1.9 million votes or 4.5 percent of the total votes. Farid Zahran, chairman of the leftist Egyptian Social Democratic Party, won 1.7 million votes (4 percent); and Abdel-Sanad Yamama, head of the Wafd Party, won 822.6 thousand votes (1.9 percent).

44.7 million Egyptians voted at home and abroad, out of 67.3 million eligible voters. The turnout, 66.8 percent, is the highest ever recorded in the history of the country. Voting in Egypt took place between 11 and 13 December, with Egyptians abroad voting from 1 to 3 December.

Al Sisi came to power in a coup in 2013. He surrendered the power the same year and won subsequent elections organized in 2014 and 2018. He organized a referendum in 2019 to extend term length to “six instead of four years”. The referendum was approved despite a low turnout of 44.3 percent of eligible voters.

Dozens of parties rallied behind the general-turned politician for the polls. The win comes amid tight economic situation with the country facing a shortage of foreign currency. Authorities have turned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout.