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Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the former general who toppled Egypt’s first freely elected leader, is on course for a sweeping victory in the country’s presidential election, early provisional results suggested.
But a lower-than-expected turnout figure has raised questions about the credibility of a man idolised by his supporters as a hero who can deliver political and economic stability.
Sisi won 93.3 percent of votes cast, government sources said yesterday, with most ballots counted after three days of voting. Hamdeen Sabahi, the only other candidate, gained 3 percent while 3.7 percent of votes were declared void.
Voter turnout was low, at 44.4 percent, despite the government declaring the second day of voting a national holiday, and extending the election for a third day. The turnout was also lower than the election that brought Mohamed Morsi to power, who lasted a year in the presidency before being removed by Sisi and the military.
Fireworks were set off in Cairo when results began to emerge. Sisi’s supporters waved Egyptian flags and sounded car horns on the crowded streets of the capital.
About 1,000 people gathered in Tahrir Square, the symbolic heart of a popular uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak in 2011, and raised hopes of a democracy free of influence from the military. “We are joyful because Sisi got so many votes, the results will come after an hour, we are here to celebrate,” Kawther Mohamed, who went to Tahrir with her daughters, said. — AFP
Online Reporter