As expected, Egypt’s Sissi reelected with more than 90% of vote
Preliminary results say only about a third of eligible voters cast their ballots, in election in which all serious competitors were banned
CAIRO — Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has been reelected for a second term with 92 percent of the vote, state media reported on Thursday citing preliminary results.
Some 23 million of the 60 million registered voters turned out during the three days of polling that ended Wednesday, state-owned newspapers Al-Ahram and Akhbar el-Youm, and the official MENA news agency reported.
The lackluster vote was virtually guaranteed to hand Sissi a second four-year term. People were warned to vote or risk paying a fine, as authorities looked to boost turnout.
According to Al-Ahram, in addition to the 23 million who cast valid votes, two million spoiled their ballot papers, inserting the names of candidates who were not among the only two approved.
Sissi faced only a token opponent in the vote, which resembled referendums held by autocrats for decades before the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011 briefly raised hopes of democratic change.
Serious challengers were forced out or arrested, including former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq, who showed up late Tuesday at a polling center to cast his ballot. It was his first public appearance since he announced his intention to run in December from the United Arab Emirates, where he had gone after narrowly losing the 2012 election to the Islamist Mohammed Morsi.
The UAE deported Shafiq after the announcement, and he was met at the Cairo airport by unidentified security men who escorted him to a hotel on the city’s outskirts. He decided against running soon thereafter. On Tuesday, he told reporters that voting was a “national duty,” without elaborating.
The government has hoped for high turnout to lend the election legitimacy, and has staggered the voting over three days. Polls were initially to close Wednesday at 9 p.m. but voting was extended for an hour.
The National Election Authority said in a statement Wednesday it will enforce a law penalizing boycotters with a fine of around $30. Similar warnings have been issued in previous elections, with no real enforcement.
Nearly 60 million Egyptians were eligible to vote at some 13,700 polling centers. Sissi won 96.9 percent of the vote in 2014, with an official turnout of more than 47 percent. In the 2012 election, which saw heightened competition between Islamists and opponents, turnout reached 52 percent.
In the polling centers this year, turnout appeared low over the first two days of voting, then started to gain momentum by midday Wednesday, with short lines in front of some polling stations. Sissi’s only opponent was Moussa Mustafa Moussa, a little-known politician who supports the president and made no effort to campaign against him.
Mahmoud el-Sherif, the spokesman of the election commission, said Wednesday at a press conference that the highest turnout was in Cairo, the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, and in northern Sinai, the epicenter of an insurgency by Islamic militants.
In Cairo’s heavily populated, middle-class district of Shubra, a trickle of voters, mainly older women, could be seen outside two polling stations. Judges supervising the polling centers said that of 7,800 registered voters, some 3,000 cast ballots, or around 38 percent. In a nearby polling center, the turnout reached 34 percent, according to figures provided by judges there.
Saadia Ali, a housewife and mother of five, said she came because she hopes things will get better. “Just tell them that our houses are collapsing and on my street they are not doing anything to fix it,” she said.
Some Sissi supporters are suggesting that he should consider amending the constitution to remain president for life.
“I have only one wish and if it’s accomplished, I will be very happy,” said Ashraf Ahmed, a 50-year-old ceramic sculptor smoking a shisha in a cafe. “I wish that the next step is to change the constitution so he can run for a third, fourth, fifth (time) and forever.”
Sissi has said that he is not in favor of amending constitutional provisions barring the president from staying in office beyond two four-year-terms. Several pro-government lawmakers and media figures promoted the proposed amendments to allow Sissi to stay in office beyond eight years.
