Abdel Fattah Sissi, in power in Egypt since the overthrow of Islamist Mohamed Morsi in 2013, has been re-elected as the country’s leader for the third consecutive election, with 89.6% of the vote, according to official results announced on Monday.
Sixty seven million Egyptians were called from December 10-12 to choose their future president.
The election came at a time when war has been raging since October between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip bordering Egypt, and when the most populous Arab country on earth is caught up in the worst economic crisis in its history.
Some voters asserted the outbreak of fighting in Gaza influenced their decision to vote for Sissi, who has long portrayed himself as a pillar of serenity in an otherwise tumultuous region.
Sissi, along with three other candidates who remain largely unknown to the general public, were in the running: Farid Zahran of a small left-wing party, Abdel-Sanad Yamama of the Neo-Wafd–a century-old but now fringe party–and Hazem Omar of the Republican People’s Party.
Despite Egypt’s difficulties, no serious opposition seems likely to exist under the reign of Sissi.
Sissi, a former military official, has presided over a broad assault on dissent across the political spectrum since overthrowing Egypt’s first democratically elected leader, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi.
He was elected president in 2014, and re-elected in 2018, with 97% of the vote each time. The presidential term was increased from four to six years in 2019.