Sisi wins landslide victory in Egypt election

Former Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi won a landslide victory in a presidential election yesterday but a low turnout threatened to deprive him of the strong mandate he needs to fix the economy and face down an Islamist insurgency.

Sisi won 93.3% of votes cast, judicial sources said, with most ballots counted.

His only rival, leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, gained 3% while 3.7% of votes were declared void.

The stakes are high for Sisi in a country where protests have helped topple two presidents in three years.

Many Egyptians feel he has not spelled out a clear vision of how he would tackle Egypt’s problems, instead making a general call for people to work hard and be patient.

He has presented vague plans to remedy the economy, suffering from corruption, high unemployment, and a widening budget deficit aggravated by fuel subsidies that could cost nearly $19bn (€14bn) in the next fiscal year.

Many Egyptians said voters had stayed at home due to political apathy, opposition to another military man becoming president, discontent at suppression of freedoms among liberal youth, and calls for a boycott by Islamists.