Former Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi won a landslide victory in a presidential election on Thursday, according to The Associated Press.
Sisi won 93.3 percent of votes cast, judicial sources said, with most ballots counted after three days of voting, the AP reported. His only rival, leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, gained 3 percent while 3.7 percent of votes were declared void.
El-Sissi's victory was never in doubt, but the career infantry officer had pushed for a massive turnout as well to bestow legitimacy on his ouster last July of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and the ensuing crackdown on his Muslim Brotherhood and other supporters, according to the AP.
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, according to the AP. 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.
Many Egyptians said voters had stayed at home due to political apathy, opposition to another military man becoming president, discontent at suppression of freedoms among liberal youth, and calls for a boycott by Islamists, the AP reported.
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 would tackle Egypt's problems, instead making a general call for people to work hard and be patient, the AP reported.
Sisi has presented vague plans to remedy the economy, which is 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, according to the AP.
Investors want Sisi to end energy subsidies, impose a clear tax regime and give guidance on the direction of the exchange rate, the AP reported.
