(EGYPT, LANKAPUVATH) –In a result that comes as no shock to Egyptians and the rest of the world, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has won the presidential elections with 97 percent of the votes, final results showed, securing another four-year term.
The elections were criticised as a one-man show with no credible opposition, as at least six other candidates pulled out, were prosecuted, or jailed.
Announcing the final results on Monday, Egypt’s election commission said there had been a 41.5 percent turnout, lower than the 47 percent in the 2014 election.
The only other opponent who ran against el-Sisi was little-known Mousa Mostafa Mousa, who entered the race hours before the deadline and whose party had previously endorsed el-Sisi.
Preliminary results released on Thursday showed that Mousa had received just three percent of the vote, and according to The Economist, came in third place after more than one million people spoiled their ballot papers.
Some had crossed out the names of the two candidates and added the name of popular Liverpool and Egyptian national football player, Mohamed Salah, reportedly giving him twice as many votes as Mousa.
Yet the results were revised the next day to suggest that there were no spoiled ballots.
“The elections were a joke and a complete fabrication,” Sarah Yerkes, a fellow at the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Al Jazeera. “They are not really a meaningful marker for the country.”
(Aljazeera)
