Egyptian President Sisi re-elected, but less popular

Egyptian President Sisi re-elected, but less popular

Egyptian President Sisi has been re-elected for a third term. Last week, Egyptians went to the polls. Sisi’s win was has long been predicted.

Sisi turned out to be less popular than previous times, this time he won with 89.6 percent of the votes. In 2014, a year after he came to power following a coup, he achieved 97 percent. In 2018 he reached the same percentage.

According to Egypt’s National Electoral Council, turnout this year was 66.8 percent. In 2018 that was only 41 percent. In recent years, Egypt has fallen into an economic crisis. The national debt has tripled due to megalomaniac projects, such as the construction of a new capital east of Cairo. Inflation peaked at 38 percent in October and food prices rose 70 percent.

Opposing candidates

Sisi had three opposing candidates in the elections, who had been ‘approved’ in advance to participate. They were described by international media as relatively unknown lightweights. Sisi’s most prominent opponent quit his campaign in October. He said his supporters were being threatened, but the National Election Council dismissed the accusation as nonsense.