The current Egyptian head of state, former Marshal Abdelfatah al Sisi, won the presidential elections for the third consecutive time, with 89.6% of the votesand will remain in power for six more years.
The head of the National Electoral Authority (NEA) of Egypt, Hazem Badawi, proclaimed Al Sisi as the winner of an election with “the highest participation in the history of Egypt”, 66.8%, which means that 44,777,668 people went to the polls out of the 67,032,438 with the right to vote.
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Al Sisi received 39,702,451 votes (89.6%), while the second most voted candidate was Hazem Omar, of the Republican Popular Party (RPP), with 1,986,352 (4.5%).
Omar was followed by Farid Zahran, head of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party (ESP).), with 1,776,952 votes (4%), and the last place went to Abdel Sanad Yamama, head of the Wafd Party, with 822,606 (1.9%).
Of the registered votes, 1.1% were counted as null, indicated Badawi.
In the appearance, Badawi pointed out that “all categories of society participated” in these elections, in which there were no “violations.” “It is the lowest percentage of expenses in electoral campaigns and an unprecedented neutrality,” he stressed, in the midst of a serious economic crisis suffered by the country of the pharaohs.
These elections have been marked by fear of a possible displacement of Palestinians to Egyptbut also due to the general discontent of the population in the face of the severe economic crisis that the country is going through, marked by an official inflation of almost 40% and the loss of more than half of the Egyptian pound.
Al Sissi in Egypt wins the presidential elections with 89.6% of the votes and is re-elected. Egypt under his rule tends to be a mediator between Israelis and Palestinians.
*Plus Communities* pic.twitter.com/6J9HdQMAT1— Kary🇮🇱קארי 🎗️ (@Kary_Tur) December 18, 2023
In fact, These elections were scheduled for 2024 but were brought forward in view of the severe and unpopular measures that the Government will have to take to alleviate the crisis and comply with the requirements of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The elections are the first since Al Sisi came to power in which four candidates of different stripes participated.but the other three candidates for the Presidency of Egypt are mostly unknown to the population.
In 2017, the current president assured that he would only remain in power for two terms.but in 2019 he promoted a controversial reform of the Constitution to be able to remain in power until 2030, year from which he will no longer be able to run in elections, initially.
The challenges he will have in his new mandate
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Established as the sole guarantor of security in the country, Al Sisi has sought for Egypt to develop with a checkbook in foreign currency, which has cost it to be one of the most indebted states in the world.
One of his passions has been the development of megaprojects, such as the New Administrative Capital of Egypt, about 40 kilometers from Cairo. and still in the process of construction, whose cost is estimated at 40,000 million dollars.
For this, and for other more current spending issues, Egypt has had to go into debt in a worrying manner: 165 billion dollars that it must repay in the midst of one of the most severe crises in the country's modern history.with a shortage of foreign currency, official inflation that is around 40% and the currency has lost more than half its value in the last year.
These constructions and infrastructures have been harshly criticized by a population that exceeds 105 million inhabitants.whose purchasing power has plummeted while the Government has eliminated subsidies essential for the survival of 80% of Egyptians.
“If the price of the development and prosperity of the nation is not eating or drinking, we will do it,” Al Sisi said in a controversial speech to the population at the end of September, in which he urged: “Your dreams must be even greater than this; do not let your dreams be simply a plate of food.”
Sisi faces a complicated economic situation in a scenario where a new devaluation of the Egyptian pound is expected, the third in the last two years, when the approximate official value of the local currency is 32 pounds per US dollar. On the black market, the pound reaches 50 units per dollar.
Public spending is another issue that Al Sisi will have to address, since the money he borrowed for large infrastructures, whose construction employs tens of thousands of people, seems exhausted, without the country's industry seeming capable of absorbing so much labor.
The debt, incurred during the last decade of Al Sisi's rule, It has several important maturities next yearalthough Egypt has defended its payment capacity, with sufficient scheduled income, but with rescheduling and negotiations in sight.
The privatization of economic sectors in the hands of the State is another option that Al Sisi will have to seriously evaluate in this third term.a politically complex formula, since for many internal and external analysts, the privileged situation of military industries, which prevent fair competition, will prevent Egypt from obtaining the necessary flow of capital.
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After overthrowing the Muslim Brotherhood government a decade ago, of which he was Minister of Defense, Al Sisi took measures to guarantee the eradication of this Islamist organization, declaring it “terrorist” and imprisoning President Mohamed Mursi in “brutal” conditions until his death in 2019, according to local and international NGOs.
Concerned about the absolute control of information, the fight against terrorism, security and his vision for the development of Egypt, the current president has been very harsh with anyone who interferes with his speech.
“Don't listen to what others say. “Listen only to me, since I am not a man who lies and turns things around, I only look out for the interest of my country,” he said in 2016 in one of his numerous televised speeches, oratory marked by excessive sarcasm.
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According to Amnesty International, over the past decade thousands of people have been imprisoned following “manifestly unfair mass trials before military or emergency courts.”
While Human Rights Watch estimates that up to 60,000 people have been detained for political reasons in Egypt since Al Sisi came to power. These and other organizations denounce that the last decade has seen “serious human rights violations”, while the Egyptian Government justifies that it has had to face the “instability and chaos” generated by the 2011 revolution, which overthrew the regime. of former dictator Hosni Mubarak after 30 years in power.
EFE
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