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EGYPTIANS voted yesterday in an election expected to install former army chief Abdel Fatah al-Sisi as president, with supporters brushing aside concerns about political freedom and hailing him as the strong leader the country needs.
Three years after the historic uprising against Hosni Mubarak, the vote is set to restore a pattern of rule by men from the military after Sisi toppled Egypt’s first freely elected leader, Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Voters lined up to cast ballots at polling stations guarded by soldiers in face masks and armed with assault rifles. Sisi faces only one challenger in the two-day vote: the leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi.
“We see Sisi as a real man. Egypt likes a strong man,” said 64-year-old Saber Habib, clenching his fist to make his point as he waited to vote in the city of Suez, east of Cairo.
“We want the country to move forward and for the people to have bread,” said Habib, a contractor.
Widely regarded as Egypt’s de facto leader since he toppled Mursi after mass protests, Sisi, 59, faces manifold challenges including an economy in crisis and a campaign of Islamist violence that has spiralled since he overthrew Morsi.
To the Islamists, he is the mastermind of a bloody coup that led to a crackdown that has killed hundreds of Morsi supporters and landed thousands more in jail. Secular dissidents who led the 2011 uprising against Mubarak have also been imprisoned.
At the same time, several hundred members of the security forces have been killed in a campaign of violence by radical Islamists since last July. The last year has been the bloodiest period of internal strife in Egypt’s modern history.
The Brotherhood and its allies, which had declared it “the election of the presidency of blood”, issued a statement saying their call for a boycott had been widely observed. However, the interior minister said turnout was good.
The government says the Brotherhood is a terrorist organisation that has turned to violence — a charge it denies.
Eleven Brotherhood supporters were arrested while staging a protest in Alexandria, Egypt’s second city, security officials said.
Sabahi’s campaign alleged “systematic violations” by police and army, and said three campaign delegates had been detained. It planned to complain to the body overseeing the vote.
As Sisi voted in Cairo, he waved to supporters, who shouted “President, President!”
“Today Egyptians are going to write their history,” said Sisi, who hopes a big turnout will give him a strong mandate.
At a polling station in one Cairo neighbourhood, women danced to a song written to build up voter enthusiasm for the election. Women clapped and ululated as they prepared to vote.
The election is the seventh vote or referendum since the 2011 uprising that raised hopes for democracy. But three years on, with democracy seen by some as an experiment that failed, many Egyptians say stability comes first.
Sisi won 95 percent of votes cast in advance by Egyptians abroad, but an opinion poll by the Washington-based Pew Research Centre suggests a more mixed picture, with Sisi viewed favourably by 54 percent and unfavourably by 45 percent. — Reuters.
derick.khumalo