TheCable

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the general who toppled Egypt’s first freely elected leader, took more than 90 per cent of the vote in a presidential election, provisional results showed on Thursday, as he joined a long line of leaders drawn from the military.

But a lower-than-expected turnout figure raised questions about the credibility of a man idolized by his supporters as a hero who can deliver political and economic stability.

Sisi won 93.3 per cent of votes cast, judicial sources said, as counting neared its conclusion after three days of voting. His only rival, leftist politician, Hamdeen Sabahi, gained 3 per cent while 3.7 per cent of votes were declared void.

Turnout was 44.4 percent of Egypt’s 54 million voters, judicial sources said, less than the 40 million votes, or 80 per cent of the electorate, that Sisi had called for last week and also less than the 52 per cent turnout Mursi won in 2012.

“We are now divided with the turnout,” said Tarek Awad, 27 and unemployed, celebrating Sisi’s victory in Tahrir on Thursday morning. “If about half of voters wanted Sisi, the other half don’t want him. What about them?”

The stock market .EGX30, which fell 2.3 per cent on Wednesday as some players said the turnout was a disappointment, was down a further 0.9 per cent by late morning on Thursday. On the black market, the Egyptian pound weakened slightly.

Mohamed El Sewedy, chairman of the Federation of Egyptian Industries, said, however: “The business community is very happy about the results. My friends and I have a lot of hope.”

Others saw the stability offered by Sisi as important.

“Everybody just wants some form of stability against which you can decide what to invest. When there’s stability it makes risk assessment much easier,” said Angus Blair, chairman of business and economic forecasting think-tank Signet.

Most Egyptian newspapers celebrated the result, with state-run Al-Akhbar calling it “a day of hope for all Egyptians”.

Fireworks erupted in Cairo to celebrate Sisi’s victory late on Wednesday. His supporters waved Egyptian flags and sounded car horns as celebrations lasted through the early hours of the morning.

About 1,000 people gathered in Tahrir Square, the symbolic heart of the popular uprising that toppled Mubarak in 2011 and raised hopes of a democracy free of influence from the military.

As Egyptians traveled to work, there were only a handful of Sisi supporters left in Tahrir. Sisi, who ousted Mursi last year after mass protests against his rule, is seen by supporters as a strong figure who can end the turmoil that has convulsed Egypt for three years since the revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak after 30 years in power.

Reuters