Egyptian presidential election results expected
Egypt is set to announce the results of its presidential election today.
Incumbent President Abdel Fattah El Sisi is widely expected to win a third term in the absence of major challengers. This includes opposition front-runner Ahmed Tantawi who was recently charged with circulating election documents illegally.
Over the course of Sisi’s nearly ten years in power, costly infrastructure projects, including a multibillion-dollar new capital east of Cairo, led to Egypt becoming the second-biggest debtor to the International Monetary Fund. This year, inflation hit record highs and the Egyptian pound has lost over half its value since a series of devaluations beginning in March.
While a reelected Sisi grapples with Egypt’s worst economic crisis in years, many Egyptians’ concerns have turned to security and stability amid war in Gaza. Displacement of Palestinians will be a major area of focus of Sisi’s in the near future as Egypt already hosts nine million refugees and has resisted accepting an influx of displaced Palestinians. In the near-term, Sisi will have to carefully navigate between refusing to accept Palestinian refugees and exacerbating tensions with Washington—which has pressured Cairo to accept more refugees—or accepting the refugees and undermining Egyptian national security, potentially damaging his strongman reputation.
