By Farah Saafan
CAIRO (Reuters) – Results in Egypt’s presidential election are due to be announced on Monday, with Abdel Fattah al-Sisi expected to secure a third term that would keep him in power till 2030 in a vote in which he faced no serious challengers.
The election took place as Egypt struggles with a slow-burning economic crisis and tries to manage the risk of spillover from the war in Gaza, which borders Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
Some voters said that the eruption of conflict in Gaza had encouraged them to vote for Sisi, who has long presented himself as a bulwark of stability in a volatile region – an argument that has also proved effective with Gulf and Western allies providing financial support to his government.
Voting in Egypt was held over three days on Dec. 10-12, with the state and tightly controlled domestic media pushing hard to boost turnout above the 41% recorded the last presidential election in 2018.
The election featured three other candidates, none of them high profile. The most prominent potential challenger halted his run in October, saying officials and thugs had targeted his supporters – accusations dismissed by the National Election Authority.
Sisi, a former general, has overseen a sweeping crackdown on dissent across the political spectrum since leading the 2013 overthrow of Egypt’s first democratically elected leader, Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood.
He was elected to the presidency in 2014, and re-elected in 2018, both times with 97% of the vote. The constitution was amended in 2019, extending the presidential term to six years from four, and allowing Sisi to stand for a third term.
Authorities have sought to address criticism of Egypt’s human rights record with steps including by opening a national dialogue and releasing some prominent prisoners, steps that critics have dismissed as largely cosmetic.
Many Egyptians expressed indifference about the election, saying the result was a foregone conclusion.
Reuters reporters who covered the vote in Cairo, Giza, Suez and the Sinai Peninsula witnessed people being bussed in to some polling stations and lingering outside them waving national flags or banners as patriotic music played. Other polling stations appeared quiet. A Reuters reporter saw bags of flour, rice and other basic commodities being handed out to people who voted in Giza.
Egypt’s state media body has said the vote was a step towards political pluralism and authorities have denied violations of electoral rules.
(Reporting by Farah Saafan; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Nick Macfie)
