Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi is expected to take his oath of office as Egypt's seventh president before the Supreme Constitutional Court next week after achieving a landslide victory over his only rival, Hamdeen Sabahi, in presidential polls held on 26, 27 and 28 May. On Tuesday evening, the Presidential Election Commission (PEC) named Al-Sisi as Egypt's new president. Official results of the 2014 Presidential elections were announced during a press conference, confirmed that Al-Sisi won 23.78 million votes (96.91 per cent). According to PEC, Sabahi secured a modest 757, 511 of the votes (3.9 per cent).
According to judge Anwar Al-Assi, 25,578,233 voted in the elections, a turnout of 47.5 per cent. Invalid votes reached 1,040,608, exceeding the votes that went to Sabahi.
Most political analysts agree Al-Sisi's victory is the final nail in the coffin of Muslim Brotherhood arguments that Mohamed Morsi, ousted from office in July, 2013, remains Egypt's legitimate president. Al-Sisi won 10 million more votes than Morsi managed in 2012.
“The huge turnout and historic victory in a democratic and free environment destroys Brotherhood claims that it retains the political legitimacy to rule Egypt,” says Gamal Zahran, professor of political science at Suez Canal University.
Returns show Al-Sisi's overwhelming margin extended to Hihya — Mohamed Morsi's birthplace in the Nile Delta governorate of Sharqiya — where the ex-army chief won 70,000 votes compared to 1.976 for Sabahi.
In Sharqiya as a whole Al-Sisi secured 1.9 million votes and Sabahi 40,324.
Sabahi managed to carry a single district, Baltim, his birthplace in the Nile Delta governorate of Kafr Al-Sheikh, where he won 900 votes compared to 630 for Al-Sisi.
Al-Sisi made it clear during his campaign that there was no room for reconciliation with the Muslim Brotherhood, telling one television interviewer “those who would vote for me vote against any future role for the Brotherhood in Egyptian politics”.
“Al-Sisi's victory sends a message to the Brotherhood's Western apologists that the Egyptians public has turned its back on the Brotherhood — designated a terrorist organisation in December — forever,” says Zahran.
Cairo, Menoufia and Gharibia governorates appear to have registered the highest support for Al-Sisi. All three governorates voted against Morsi in 2012, and in the same year rejected the Islamist constitution in a public referendum.
Though early rumours suggested a low turnout the opposite appears to be the case. Between 25,260,190 of Egypt's 54 million registered voters — 47.45 per cent — are thought to have turned out to cast their ballot. In the second round of the 2012 presidential polls 26.4 million — 51.8 per cent — of the then total of 50 million registered voters went to the polls.
Delta governorates seem to have been more in favour of Al-Sisi than Upper Egyptian governorates. Al-Menoufia saw a 62.6 per cent turnout. Across the governorate Al-Sisi took 1.4 million votes while Sabahi managed just 19,700.
In Port Said 61 per cent of registered voters participated, with Al-Sisi winning the lion's share of ballots. Half of Cairo's 6.8 million voters went to the polls. Sabahi trailed behind spoiled ballots, with 110,541 votes, while Al-Sisi had the support of 3.1 million of the capital's inhabitants.
There was no replay of Sabahi's 2012 win in Alexandria. Out of a total of 3.5 million voters in Egypt's second city 1.7 million went to the polls. Of those 1.6 million opted for Al-Sisi. Sabahi managed to trail in with 65,258 votes. Some 80,691 ballots were spoiled.
In Upper Egypt turnout rates hovered between 33 and 35 per cent. Luxor, a city that depends almost exclusively on tourism, was an exception. Turnout reached 47.9 per cent.
The results of the elections, argues Zahran, contain a number of hard lessons that political parties need to take on board.
“Sabahi in particular, and the leftist forces backing him, need to realise that revolutionary jargon no longer appeals to most citizens.”
Sabahi's repeated promises to revoke the new protest law and free 6 April activists, says Zahran, failed to impress ordinary citizens, a public which sees the protest law as essential to restoring stability and views the 6 April Movement as a harbinger of chaos and the conduit for a hostile American agenda.
Many commentators argue the increased number of polling stations, and consequent reduction in queuing times, was a significant factor in the high turnout. Interior Ministry officials insist that the provision of gender segregated auxiliary polling stations, and the overall increase in the number of voting booths, lessoned queues and gave a false impression that the turnout was low.
