Egypt Election: Sisi Secures Second Term

Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has been re-elected for a second four-year term, after winning 97% of the vote last week, official results show.

The amount is the same as he won in the last election in 2014. But turnout, at 41%, was six percentage points lower.

Electoral officials also said 7% of the 24 million ballots cast were spoiled.

Many saw the outcome as a foregone conclusion, with Mr Sisi’s sole opponent a little-known figure who had previously supported his re-election.

Twice as many people ended up spoiling their ballots than voting for Moussa Mostafa Moussa, leader of the al-Ghad party, according to the official results.

Opposition politicians had called for a boycott after several potential candidates dropped out or were arrested. Mr Sisi insisted the withdrawals were not his doing.

The retired field marshal led the military’s overthrow of Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi, in 2013 following protests against his rule.

Since then, he has overseen what human rights groups say is an unprecedented crackdown on dissent that has led to the detention of tens of thousands of people.

Source: BBC