EGYPT CLAIMS EL-SISI WINS ELECTION BY LANDSLIDE
Cairo, 30 Rajab 1435/29 May 2014 (MINA) – Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi is claimed won the election by landslide victory of over 96 percent of the popular vote, or as much as 44.4 percent (23.38 million voters) of a total of 54 million Egyptians.
El-Sisi’s only rival, leftist Hamdeen Sabahi, garnered a humble 3.5 percent, with less than 800 000 votes, while al-Sisi itself gets with over 23 million voters casting their ballots for him, Egypt’s Ahram quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
A surprise in the 2014 presidential race was the number of invalidated votes – exceeding 1 million – which prompted Egyptians to joke on social media that Sabahi and the spoilt ballots were competing for second place in the election.
Although the results are announced by the judges supervising polling centres across the country, they are still considered unofficial as they must be verified and then announced by the Presidential Elections Commission (PEC), the judicial body overseeing the poll.
Judge Tarek Shebl, a member of the PEC’s general secretariat, told Al-Ahram’s Arabic news website early on Thursday that the official results will be announced either Sunday or Monday, 1 or 2 June.
El-Sisi’s victory had long been predicted.
During the campaign, the former defense minister who announced the ousting of president Mohamed Morsi is considered a “hero” for his supporters, including the military and Israeli media, quoting officials who praised his coup efforts over the first freely elected president.
Elections were scheduled for two days, Monday and Tuesday (26-27 May), extended till wednesday due to the low turnout, following the boycott rally to the election by the Muslim Brotherhood and other activists who rejects the Morsi’s ousting on July 2013.
Later on, Egyptian mass media rebuked the Egyptian people on Tuesday for not going out to cast their votes in the presidential election that coup leader Abdul-Fatah Al-Sisi is largely expected to win.
A number of famous newscasters and show presenters called for punishing anyone who does not take part in the elections; some called for prosecuting them and others described them as traitors.
Polling centres began counting votes on Wednesday, the third and final electoral day, at 9pm CLT (6pm GMT). As the results began to come in, Egyptians took to the streets and stayed until the early hours of Thursday morning to celebrate, waving El-Sisi’s campaign posters and bringing traffic to a standstill.(T/P03)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
