Accessibility links

Breaking News

Egypt's Sisi Secures Third Presidential Term


Hazem Badawy, head of Egypt's National Elections Authority (NEA), speaks during a press conference, announcing the results of the Egypt's presidential election, at the International Convention Center in Nasr City district in Cairo, Egypt, December 18, 2023.
Hazem Badawy, head of Egypt's National Elections Authority (NEA), speaks during a press conference, announcing the results of the Egypt's presidential election, at the International Convention Center in Nasr City district in Cairo, Egypt, December 18, 2023.

CAIRO — Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has won a third term with 89.6% of the vote in the Arab world's most populous nation, the national election authority said Monday. 

The outcome of the December 10-12 poll was widely expected after the former army chief with a fondness for infrastructure mega-projects campaigned against a small field of relative unknowns.

It secures 69-year-old Sisi his third and, according to the Egyptian constitution, final term in office, starting in April and set to run for six years.

His victory comes despite a painful economic crisis, marked by a currency plunge and runaway household prices, and heightened regional tensions sparked by the Israel-Hamas war in neighboring Gaza.

Annual inflation is running at 36.4%, sending up prices of some food staples by the week and hurting household budgets in the country of nearly 106 million.

Even before the current economic crisis, about two thirds of Egypt's population were living on or below the poverty line.

A decade-long crackdown on dissent had eliminated any serious competition for Sisi, Egypt's fifth president to emerge from within the ranks of the military since 1952.

It was the third time in a decade Sisi wins a landslide victory, albeit with his smallest margin. In both 2014 and 2018, Sisi won over 96% of the vote.

The runner-up Hazem Omar, who leads the Republican People's Party, received 4.5% of the vote.

Next came Farid Zahran, leader of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, and Abdel-Sanad Yamama from the Wafd, a century-old but relatively marginal party.

The election authority said turnout was "unprecedented" at 66.8% of 67 million registered voters. This was up from 41% in 2018 and 47% in 2014.

Sisi, a retired army field marshal, was first voted in as president after leading the overthrow of elected Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

He later extended the presidential mandate from four to six years and amended the constitution to raise the limit on consecutive terms from two to three years.

His administration has overseen the imprisonment of tens of thousands of political opponents as the space for dissent has been progressively curtailed.

The all-but-decimated opposition had built some momentum this year ahead of the election, before media and public attention were diverted by the Israel-Hamas war.

For a brief while, some expected the election to include two main opposition figures who — despite having no real hope of winning — were intended to highlight dissident voices.

Today, one is in prison and the other is awaiting trial.

Forum

XS
SM
MD
LG