Cairo: Former defence minister Abdul Fattah Al Sissi was declared Egypt’s new president on Tuesday, winning more than 96 per cent in the polls held last week.
The election commission said that Al Sissi had gained 23.7 million or 96.1 per cent of the valid votes cast in the polls, Egypt’s first since the army toppled Islamist president Mohammad Mursi last July.
Al Sissi’s sole challenger Hamdeen Sabahi secured 757,511 or 3.9 per cent of the valid votes, the commission’s Chairman Anwar Al Aasi said in a televised statement.
Around 47.45 per cent of Egypt’s 53.9 million eligible voters cast their ballots in the three-day election, Al Aasi added.
While admitting defeat, Sabahi, the leftist rival, questioned the credibility of the voter turnout figure.
Al Aasi said the commission extended the scheduled two-day voting for an extra day in response to a heat wave that hit Egypt at the time of the polls and might have discouraged the electorate.
According to him, 10 per cent of the total voters, who showed up at the polls, cast their ballots on the third day.
“Increasing the number of polling stations helped elections to run smoothly and result in a high percentage of voting,” Al Aasi said.
“With this election, the Egyptians have endorsed their constitution and elected their president. What remains is electing the parliament,” he added, referring to an army-backed transitional roadmap announced following Mursi’s removal.
Al Sissi’s supporters took to the streets nationwide celebrating his overwhelming victory.
They rallied to the iconic Tahrir Square in central Cairo, waving his pictures and the national flag. In other areas of the Egyptian capital, revelers honked their car horns and set off fireworks in celebration. Meanwhile, residents of Al Sissi’s hometown in the Cairo medieval quarter of Al Jamiliya danced en masse as they held his portraits.
Egyptian authorities have tightened security across the country for fear of attacks by suspected Islamist insurgents.
Mursi’s now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood boycotted the presidential election, but has repeatedly denied links to violence.
Al Sissi, 59, has pledged to end political turmoil and economic decline that have hit Egypt since a 2011 uprising forced long-time president Hosni Mubarak step down
He is expected to be inaugurated on Saturday, becoming Egypt’s fifth ruler drawn from the military since a 1952 army-led revolution ended monarchy.
