Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has been re-elected in a landslide and will remain at the helm of the country until 2030, it was announced on Monday.
The former army general, first elected in 2014, won 89.6 per cent of the vote – 39.70 million votes – the National Election Commission said.
“Dear sons of Egypt, my pride in you has no end or boundaries,” Mr El Sisi told the nation in a televised address soon after the results were announced.
“Your choice of me to lead the nation is a mandate that I shoulder before God and you.”
The three little-known politicians who challenged Mr El Sisi – Hazem Omar, Farid Zahran and Abdel Sanad Yamamah – collected a total of 4.5 million votes, or 10.4 per cent of all votes, according to figures announced by the National Election Commission.
Turnout was at an all-time high of 66.8 per cent, the commission's chairman, Hazem Badawy, told a media briefing.
There are about 67 million registered voters in Egypt, a country of 105 million people.
“It's a historic day on which we harvest our nation's democratic fruit,” the commission's executive director, Ahmed El Bendary, said during the same briefing. He added that the election had “reflected the sincerity and devotion for the nation”.
Under the constitution, Mr El Sisi's current term in office officially ends on April 2, and he is expected to take the oath of office the following day.
The re-election of the 69-year-old Egyptian leader comes at a time when the country is in the midst of a crushing economic crisis and alarmed by the Israel-Gaza war next door.
The record turnout sharply contrasts with the lacklustre label the vote had earned given the nation's preoccupation with the Israel-Hamas war, the worst economic crisis in living memory and the notion of an election whose outcome was known before voters cast their ballots.
With his win beyond doubt, Mr El Sisi's campaign was focused on getting the vote out to secure a decent turnout that could serve as a renewed mandate for the Egyptian leader to take painful decisions to overhaul the economy.
The vote was not expected to be held until early in 2024, but was brought forward because of what commentators said was the President's need for a renewed and robust mandate to tackle the economy.
Parties loyal to the President, with considerable state assistance, began mobilising voters months ago in a gritty bid to combat apathy.
The powerful state media portrayed voting as a national duty, a vote for Mr El Sisi as a contribution to Egypt's security and stability, and belittled the economic crisis as part of a global problem as well as a test of the will of Egyptians to cope with hardship.
Also helping were the tens of thousands of giant billboards, banners and flyers, all bearing the image of a smiling and confident Mr El Sisi, that flooded the streets of Cairo and other cities across the nation in the weeks ahead of the vote.
During the three days of voting, voters queued outside polling stations waving Egyptian flags, swaying to patriotic music blaring from giant speakers and carrying posters of the Egyptian leader. Polling stations were festooned with the black, red and white of the Egyptian flag.
Identical scenes defined the presidential elections of 2014 and 2018, both of which were won by Mr El Sisi with more than 95 per cent of the vote.
Instead of campaigning, Mr El Sisi kept a high profile in the media with countless meetings with foreign leaders and senior dignitaries who visited Cairo to discuss the Gaza war, which broke out on October 7.
His scathing criticism of Israel over the deaths of more than 18,700 Palestinians in the war, along with his repeated warnings against pushing the enclave's residents into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, have bolstered his image as a supporter of the Palestinian cause.
Mr El Sisi said the December 10 to December 12 vote was held at a time when the nation was at a critical juncture in which it “faced a host of challenges on a multitude of levels, foremost of which is the [Israel-Gaza] war raging beyond our eastern border and which requires our utmost efforts to stop it because of the threat it poses to our national security.”
“Let me tell you with the customary openness between us that I am consciously aware of the magnitude of the crises we went and still going through,” he said of his nation's economic woes.
“I would like to stress my realisation that the hero in confronting all these challenges is the glorious Egyptian citizen.”
Mr El Sisi, who personally charts and oversees economic policies, did not say what he intended to do to put it back on track.
Mr El Sisi's post-electoral priority appears to be revamping the economy, which has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and the fallout from the Russia-Ukraine war. Critics contend that Egypt's economic crisis was chiefly caused by excessive borrowing and unnecessary large projects that cost billions of dollars.
Egypt's pound has lost more than 50 per cent of its value since March 2022 and a persistent foreign currency crunch has suppressed imports and badly hurt local industries dependent on foreign material.
The president is also expected to shift focus away from infrastructure projects to industrial ones, in a bid to curb the nation's huge import bill and to shelve yet-to-start mega projects while completing the ones that have already begun.
Mr El Sisi owes his third term in office to constitutional amendments proposed by a parliament packed by his supporters in 2018. Adopted in a referendum the following year, the changes extended presidential terms from four to six years, but kept at two the number of terms a president can serve.
However, a tailor-made clause was added to the constitution that disregarded the four years he had served between 2014 and 2018.
About Proto21
Date started: May 2018
Founder: Pir Arkam
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Sector: Additive manufacturing (aka, 3D printing)
Staff: 18
Funding: Invested, supported and partnered by Joseph Group
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Dr Afridi's warning signs of digital addiction
Spending an excessive amount of time on the phone.
Neglecting personal, social, or academic responsibilities.
Losing interest in other activities or hobbies that were once enjoyed.
Having withdrawal symptoms like feeling anxious, restless, or upset when the technology is not available.
Experiencing sleep disturbances or changes in sleep patterns.
What are the guidelines?
Under 18 months: Avoid screen time altogether, except for video chatting with family.
Aged 18-24 months: If screens are introduced, it should be high-quality content watched with a caregiver to help the child understand what they are seeing.
Aged 2-5 years: Limit to one-hour per day of high-quality programming, with co-viewing whenever possible.
Aged 6-12 years: Set consistent limits on screen time to ensure it does not interfere with sleep, physical activity, or social interactions.
Teenagers: Encourage a balanced approach – screens should not replace sleep, exercise, or face-to-face socialisation.
Source: American Paediatric Association
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Director: Jon Watts
Stars: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon
Rating:*****
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
HOW TO WATCH
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TikTok: @thenationalnews
Zayed Sustainability Prize
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The years Ramadan fell in May
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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Lexus LX700h specs
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
england euro squad
Goalkeepers: Dean Henderson (Man Utd), Sam Johnstone (West Brom), Jordan Pickford (Everton)
Defenders: John Stones (Man City), Luke Shaw (Man Utd), Harry Maguire (Man Utd), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Kyle Walker (Man City), Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa), Reece James (Chelsea), Conor Coady (Wolves), Ben Chilwell (Chelsea), Kieran Trippier (Atletico Madrid)
Midfielders: Mason Mount (Chelsea), Declan Rice (West Ham), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund), Kalvin Phillips (Leeds)
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Biography
Favourite book: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Holiday choice: Anything Disney-related
Proudest achievement: Receiving a presidential award for foreign services.
Family: Wife and three children.
Like motto: You always get what you ask for, the universe listens.
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Squad
Ali Kasheif, Salim Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdulrahman, Mohammed Al Attas, Abdullah Ramadan, Zayed Al Ameri (Al Jazira), Mohammed Al Shamsi, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohammed Barghash, Khalil Al Hammadi (Al Wahda), Khalid Essa, Mohammed Shaker, Ahmed Barman, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Al Hassan Saleh, Majid Suroor (Sharjah) Walid Abbas, Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al Ahli), Tariq Ahmed, Jasim Yaqoub (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Hassan Al Muharami (Baniyas)
Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten
Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a month before Reaching the Last Mile.
Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
