Low turnout may affect mandate: Al-Sisi takes Egypt in election landslide

Former Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi won a landslide victory in a presidential election on Thursday but a low turnout may have deprived him of the strong mandate he needs to fix the economy and face down an Islamist insurgency.

Sisi won 93.3 percent of votes cast, judicial sources said, with most ballots counted after three days of voting. His only rival, leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, gained 3 percent while 3.7 percent of votes were declared void.

But a lower-than-expected turnout figure raised questions about the credibility of a man idolized by his supporters as a hero who can deliver stability.

The stakes are high for Sisi in a country where street protests have helped topple two presidents in three years.

Since a series of television interviews he gave ahead of the vote, many Egyptians feel Sisi has not spelled out a clear vision of how he will tackle Egypt's problems, instead making a general call for people to work hard and be patient.

He has presented vague plans to remedy the economy, suffering from corruption, high unemployment, and a widening budget deficit aggravated by fuel subsidies that could cost nearly $19 billion in the next fiscal year.

"All in all, the weak turnout will make it harder for Sisi to impose painful economic reforms that international institutions and investors are demanding," said Anna Boyd, an analyst at London-based IHS Jane's.

Investors want Sisi to end energy subsidies, impose a clear tax regime and give guidance on the direction of the exchange rate.

• Turnout was about 46 percent of Egypt's 54 million voters, the government said, less than the 40 million votes, or 80 percent of the electorate, that Sisi had called for last week.

• It was also less than the 52 percent turnout secured in the 2012 presidential election by Mohamed Morsi, the Islamist leader Sisi ousted last year after mass protests against his rule.

The two-day vote was originally due to conclude on Tuesday but was extended until Wednesday evening to allow the "greatest number possible" to vote, state media reported.

Egyptian authorities are touting the election as a milestone on the road to democracy following Morsi's ouster, but Human Rights Watch says the crackdown on opposition "stripped these elections of real meaning."

"The intense crackdown on dissent over the last 10 months has created a repressive environment that severely undermines the fairness of the elections," the New York-based group said.

The stock market, which fell 2.3 percent on Wednesday as some players said the turnout was a disappointment, closed down 3.45 percent on Thursday, after the finance minister approved a ten percent tax on stock market profits. On the black market, the Egyptian pound weakened slightly.
[globaltimes.cn]
29-30/5/14
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