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Egypt’s Early Vote Tally: Sisi, 92%, Token Opponent, 3%


By DECLAN WALSH
 
Election workers counting ballots in Cairo on Wednesday. Early results showed President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi heading for a landslide victory after he sidelined his main rivals. Mohamed Hossam/EPA, via Shutterstock
CAIRO — Early results from Egypt’s election showed President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi headed for a landslide victory with 92 percent of the vote, state media reported Thursday, an unsurprising margin in a race where he eliminated all serious opposition months ago.
Mr. Sisi’s token opponent, Moussa Moustapha Moussa, received just 3 percent of the vote, less than the number of spoiled ballots, state media said.
With his main rivals in jail or forced from the contest, Mr. Sisi relied on voter turnout to demonstrate his popularity. State media said that about 40 percent of voters cast ballots during the three days of voting that ended Wednesday, down from 47 percent in the 2014 election that formalized Mr. Sisi’s power.
State television said the preliminary results were based on counts in 24 of 27 governorates. It did not say what proportion of the vote had been tallied. Official results are expected on Monday.
Voters were subject to bribes, blandishments and threats in an effort to get them to the polls. Some said they had been promised bags of free groceries or payments of as little as $3 for casting their ballot. Others were lavished with promises of improved municipal services, or tempted with a chance to win a pilgrimage to Mecca.
On Wednesday, the election authority repeated a threat to impose a $28 fine on voters who failed to cast their ballot. Voting was extended by an hour on Wednesday after a sandstorm lashed Cairo, keeping some people from polls, officials said.
Mr. Sisi, rear, at his campaign headquarters in Cairo on Monday. Egyptian Presidency
Coverage of those tactics in the international news media drew harsh criticism from the government and its supporters, who accused reporters of presenting a distorted picture of the election.

“So the foreign media chose darkness,” wrote Hany Assal, a columnist with the state-run Ahram newspaper. “It reported and searched for the negative and worked hard to emphasize it.”
The State Information Service warned foreign reporters of unspecified consequences for “unprofessional” coverage of the election.

Mr. Sisi’s Western allies have been largely silent through the campaign, offering little or no criticism even as journalists were being arrested and the military jailed a former army chief who tried to run against Mr. Sisi.

In a message posted to the United States Embassy’s Twitter feed on Monday, the first day of the vote, the United States chargé d’affaires in Cairo, Thomas H. Goldberger, said: “As Americans we are very impressed by the enthusiasm and patriotism of Egyptian voters.”

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