The president of Egypt, Abdel Fatah al Sisi, secured another term until 2030, after winning the presidential elections with 89.6% of the votes. The Egyptian electoral authority announced the results this Monday, a week after the vote in which 67 million Egyptians were called to the polls.
Al Sisi comfortably won with almost ninety percent of the votes against the second candidate, Hazem Omar, a businessman and former senator who barely received 4.5% of support. The results of the elections provide few surprises, since Al Sisi was running as the favorite candidate in elections adapted to his circumstances, with the dominance of the main media and great pressure from the authorities against opponents and activists during the months. prior to the elections. A constitutional change promoted by Sisi himself will allow him to extend his new term from four to six years.
The president will begin his third term next April. The head of the electoral authority, Hazem Badawy, noted that there was an “unprecedented” participation with 66.8% of voters going to the polls. This is a figure significantly higher than the last vote, the 2019 constitutional referendum, which barely had 44.3% of participation.
The war in Gaza permeated the entire electoral campaign, with Al Sisi as an active mediator in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. The president has tried to balance his diplomatic ties with Israel and the United States, without giving in to pressure from Tel Aviv to accept part of the displaced population from Gaza in the Sinai province.
Al Sisi has been able to read the sentiment in the Egyptian streets, of clear support for the Palestinian cause, and maintains a firm stance in the conflict, with constant mentions of the humanitarian situation of the population of Gaza. In his first televised speech after the election, the president again called for a cessation of hostilities and expressed concern about developments in the Red Sea, where Yemen’s Houthi militia has been attacking ships in response to Israel’s war in Gaza.
Egypt owns the Suez Canal, which is located in the northern Red Sea. “This ongoing war on our eastern borders, which requires the mobilization of all our efforts to prevent its continuation, represents a threat to Egyptian national security in particular and to the Palestinian cause in general,” the Egyptian president said. Al Sisi’s forceful stance in Gaza could have given him electoral support, while analysts point out that the president also hopes for the support of allies in Europe and the United States, who will help him alleviate the country’s economic crisis. In recent weeks, the European Union has announced an investment plan to support Egypt, with the intention of cushioning the impact of the war and strengthening its borders to prevent a greater migratory flow towards Europe.
The war in the neighboring country has left the economic crisis that the country has been dragging on for years into the background. In the last year, the currency collapsed, annual inflation reached 36% and the increase in the price of wheat derived from the war in Ukraine caused a serious increase in the price of basic foods, dragging thousands of households into poverty. Despite the debt of more than 29 billion dollars that the country faces, Al Sisi had allocated a large part of public spending on mega infrastructures such as the creation of a second economic capital, building a new city from scratch.
The three candidates running to take power from Al Sisi had a low profile, while the only politician who was considered to be a threat to the current president was unable to run in the elections. Left-wing politician Ahmad Tantawi denounced pressure from the authorities to withdraw his candidacy, although the National Electoral Authority denied that they had placed obstacles in his electoral career.
Amnesty International reported that in the last three months at least 200 activists and supporters of Tantawi had been arrested in protests, accused of terrorism or of spreading alleged false news related to the elections. “There were no elections, Al Sisi used the entire state apparatus and security agencies to prevent any serious contender from even running,” Hossam Bahgat, head of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), told Reuters. “Just like last time, he picked his opponents, who only went through the formalities of running against the president, barely criticizing his disastrous policies,” he added.