Cairo: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has been reelected for a second term with 92 per cent of the vote, state media reported today citing preliminary results.

Some 23 million of the 60 million registered voters turned out during the three days of polling that ended yesterday, state-owned newspapers Al-Ahram and Akhbar el-Youm, and the official MENA news agency reported. </s> CAIRO - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has been re-elected with 97 percent of votes, the exact proportion that brought the former military commander his first term four years ago, Egypt's election commission announced on Monday.



However, turnout in last week's election was lower than in 2014, at 41 percent.



Sisi had long been virtually guaranteed victory after all serious opposition pulled out of the contest earlier this year. </s> CAIRO—Egypt’s Abdel Fattah Al Sisi is set to be to re-elected as the country’s president, winning about 90% of the vote based on initial results, the country’s state news agency reported Thursday.

The early returns marked the conclusion of an election in which Mr. Sisi’s major opponents were jailed and sidelined and in which voters were enticed to the polls with offers of food and cash and threatened with a fine for not participating. </s> CAIRO - Early results from Egypt’s election showed President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi cruising towards his expected landslide victory and a second term, but with a lower turnout than the vote that brought him to power four years ago.

As ballots are tallied for official results due on 2 April, the focus is on turnout since Sisi faced no credible opposition after a crackdown against serious challengers.

Critics say the contest recalled the kind of vote that kept Arab autocrats in power for decades before the 2011 Arab Spring.

Initial estimates by state media placed turnout at around 40% at most, well below the 47% of the vote that brought Sisi his first term in 2014.

The former military commander overthrew Islamist Mohamed Mursi, Egypt’s first freely-elected president, during turmoil in 2013 that followed a popular uprising, two years earlier.

Sisi was first elected in 2014 with 97% of the vote and has this time won around 92% according to preliminary results, state news agency MENA reported state-run newspapers as saying. It said between 23 and 25 million people had voted, out of an electorate of 59 million.

Authorities were keen to ensure a higher turnout this time around as Sisi saw attendance at polls as a referendum on his popularity and was seeking a strong mandate to fight militants and push through tough economic reforms.

State-run media trumpeted Sisi’s victory early on Thursday, predicting a “big turnout”, and radio programmes said that most of the voters were from Egypt’s fast-growing youth.

“The people have chosen their president”, the front page of state-run daily al-Ahram said.

Early indications from sources monitoring the vote, however, suggested turnout could be lower than in the 2014 election.

On the first two days of voting, turnout was about 21%, two sources monitoring the election said, and a Western diplomat said that late on Tuesday it was between 15 and 20%.

The two sources had said late on Wednesday the final turnout figure could be less than 40%.

It appeared that more people spoiled their ballots than voted for Sisi’s sole challenger, Moussa Mostafa Moussa, who has widely been dismissed as a dummy candidate, the sources said.

“All preliminary reports suggest that turnout is down compared to 2014 despite all the efforts that have been made to raise the numbers,” Timothy Kaldas, a non-resident fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, said.

“But it’s not clear what consequence the turnout will really have on a government that doesn’t appear to believe the people should have a say in who rules them, to begin with,” he said.

Egyptian authorities and media outlets have tried to garner as many votes as possible, telling voters it is their duty, and portraying a failure to vote as a betrayal of their country.

Other tactics have also been deployed, with some voters saying they were paid and given other incentives to cast their ballots.

All serious opposition dropped out the election race earlier this year citing intimidation after the main challenger, another former military chief, was arrested. Egypt’s election commission said the vote would be free and fair, and Sisi said he wished more candidates had run.

Sisi’s presidency has returned the military to power after turmoil following the 2011 uprising that toppled long-time leader Hosni Mubarak. </s> CAIRO (Reuters) - President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi cruised towards a landslide election victory against no real opposition but early results showed a lower turnout than the vote that brought him to power in 2014, despite efforts to get more Egyptians to the polls.

The vote this week had long been set to hand Sisi a second term after a crackdown against serious contenders left one challenger, widely dismissed as a dummy candidate. Critics say the contest recalled the kind of vote that kept Arab autocrats in power for decades before the 2011 Arab Spring.

With the election seen by many, including Sisi, as a referendum on his presidency, the focus is on turnout which he has sought to support tough economic reforms and a fight against Islamist militants.

Critics say austerity and an unprecedented crackdown on dissent have eroded Sisi’s popularity, but supporters say such measures are needed to stabilise the North African country after years of unrest that followed a 2011 popular uprising.

The former military commander overthrew Islamist Mohamed Mursi, Egypt’s first freely-elected president, after protests against Mursi’s rule in 2013 and was elected a year later.

Early estimates by state media on Thursday placed turnout from three days of voting at little over 40 percent, well below the 47 percent of 2014. Sisi is expected to win more than 92 percent of votes, the state media said. He won 97 percent last time.

State-run media trumpeted Sisi’s victory early on Thursday, saying there was a “big turnout”, and radio programmes said that most of the voters were from Egypt’s fast-growing youth.

“The people have chosen their president”, the front page of state-run daily al-Ahram said.

Sisi said on his official Twitter account: “The images of Egyptians in front of polling stations makes me proud and is proof of the greatness of our nation.”

Authorities urged as many eligible voters as possible to cast their ballots, with state media portraying a failure to vote as betrayal of their country.

State news agency MENA reported state-run newspapers as saying that between 23 million and 25 million people had voted, out of an electorate of 59 million.

On the first two days of voting, turnout was about 21 percent, two sources monitoring the election said, and a Western diplomat said that late on Tuesday it was between 15 and 20 percent.

It appeared that more people spoiled their ballots than voted for Sisi’s sole challenger, Moussa Mostafa Moussa, who has widely been dismissed as a dummy candidate, the sources said.

“All preliminary reports suggest that turnout is down compared to 2014 despite all the efforts that have been made to raise the numbers,” Timothy Kaldas, non-resident fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, said.

“But it’s not clear what consequence the turnout will really have on a government that doesn’t appear to believe the people should have a say in who rules them to begin with,” he said.

All serious opposition dropped out the election race earlier this year citing intimidation after the main challenger, another former military chief, was arrested. Egypt’s election commission said the vote would be free and fair, and Sisi said he wished more candidates had run.

Sisi’s presidency has returned the military to power after turmoil following the 2011 uprising that toppled long-time leader Hosni Mubarak. </s> Almost 100% Egyptians have given about 22 million votes for incumbent president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi with a 41.05 percent voter turnout, Egypt's election commission announced.

Egyptians cast their ballots electing the new head of state from March 26-28.

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, a former military commander, became Egyptian president in 2014 and has now been re-elected to another four-year term.

​According to local media, Sisi's rival Moussa Mustafa Moussa is a distant second with only 721,000 votes or 3% support in the country.

READ MORE: Egypt's Sisi Re-Elected as President With More Than 90% of Votes — Reports

A total of 60 million Egyptians were eligible to vote in the three-day election, which started on Monday. </s> Voting has begun in Egypt's presidential election, a contest which is expected to give incumbent Abdel Fattah al-Sisi an easy win and a second term as he faces almost no opposition.

Polls opened at 9am local time on Monday on the first of three days of voting.

Sisi cast his vote in Cairo as the polls opened, state TV reported. </s> CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has been re-elected for a second term with about 92 percent of the vote, preliminary results showed on Thursday, with just over 40 percent of voters casting ballots.

Twenty-five million of the 60 million registered voters, or some 41.5 percent, turned out during the three days of polling that ended Wednesday, state-owned newspaper Al-Ahram reported. Twenty-three million voted for Sisi.

The Akhbar el-Youm newspaper did not report the full turnout but said Sisi won 21.4 million votes, and his rival Moussa Mostafa Moussa 721,000 votes, without mentioning the number of spoiled ballots.

According to Al-Ahram, in addition to 23 million who cast valid votes, two million spoiled their ballot papers.

Sisi’s sole challenger was the little-known Moussa, himself a supporter of the president, who registered immediately before the close date for applications, saving the election from being a one-horse race.

Moussa conceded his loss on Wednesday night, telling a television station he had hoped for 10 percent of the vote.

“But I know the immense popularity of President Sisi,” he said.

Other, more heavy-weight would-be challengers were all sidelined, detained or pulled out.

Sisi, who as army chief ousted Egypt’s first freely elected president — Mohamed Morsi — after mass street protests in 2013, won his first term in 2014 with 96.9 percent of the vote.—AFP </s> Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has been re-elected with 97 percent of votes, the same proportion that the former military commander secured four years ago for his first term, official results showed on Monday.

However, turnout was lower at 41 percent, despite efforts to get as many Egyptians as possible to polling stations during last week’s vote. Sisi had been virtually guaranteed a landslide win, confirmed by early tallies as voting ended on Wednesday.

The election featured only one other candidate, himself an ardent Sisi supporter, after all serious opposition contenders halted their campaigns in January. The main challenger was arrested and his campaign manager beaten up, while other presidential hopefuls pulled out, citing intimidation.

Sisi said he had wanted more candidates to run and that he had had nothing to do with the opposition withdrawals.

The election commission said the vote was free and fair as it gave the results in a televised announcement on Monday.

The lower turnout is a potential setback for Sisi, who suggested before the vote that he saw it as a referendum on his presidency rather than a genuine contest. Turnout in the 2014 vote that won him his first term was 47 percent.

State media had portrayed failure to vote as a betrayal of Egypt. Some voters said they were offered incentives to cast their ballots including money and food, local and international media reported, but did not say who had made the offers.

Officials said that if any such incidents took place they were not state-sponsored and extremely limited.
State media reports preliminary indications incumbent President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has won 90% of the vote with a 41% turnout.