2018 Egyptian presidential election
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Presidential elections were held in Egypt between 26 and 28 March 2018,[1] though Egyptians abroad voted from 16 to 18 March 2018.[2] On 19 January, incumbent President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi formally announced he would run for a second and final term.[3] El-Sisi won the election with 97%, according to the official results. A runoff would have taken place 19 to 21 April outside the country and 24 to 26 April within the country if no candidate had reached 50% of the vote.[4] The election had a turnout of roughly 41%, lower than the 2014 election's 47%.[5] A 2019 constitutional change allowed El-Sisi to remain in power until 2030 instead of 2022.
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| Registered | 59,078,138 | |||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 41.05% ( 6.45pp) | |||||||||||||||
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Fourteen human rights groups dismissed the poll as "farcical."[6][7] They said the authorities had "trampled over even the minimum requirements for free and fair elections", stifling basic freedoms and eliminating key challengers.[8] The only approved challenger to Sisi was another pro-government politician, Moussa Mostafa Moussa.
Electoral system
editThe president of Egypt is elected using the two-round system.[9] If only one person runs for the presidency, they can be elected with a yes vote from five percent of eligible voters.[10]
Boycotts
editThe Civil Democratic Movement announced on 30 January 2018 that it would boycott the vote.[11]
Candidates
editAbdel Fattah el-Sisi
editAbdel Fattah el-Sisi was the incumbent president of Egypt.[3] After leading the 2013 military coup that overthrew Egypt's first democratically elected president, el-Sisi retired from his military career in 2014 and subsequently won that year's presidential election.[8] In the announcement of his candidacy, he stated, "There are people I know who are corrupt, I will not allow them to come near this chair.”[12] President Sisi received the endorsement of 464 members of Egyptian Parliament, approximately two thirds of the body.[13]
Moussa Mostafa Moussa
editEl-Ghad Party chairman Moussa Mostafa Moussa, a pro-Sisi politician who had an active role in collecting nomination pledges for Sisi's second term until 20 January, announced that he found endorsements from 26 members of parliament, as well as 47,000 signatures from the public, although he declared his intention to run just a day before the deadline of the elections commission.[14][15] Moussa submitted his nomination pledges and official paperwork to the commission just 15 minutes before the deadline.[16] In an interview with Egypt Today, Moussa said he was not a "phony" candidate, and that he had "a vision that can be achieved by being part of the system".[17]
Declined candidates
edit- Ahmed Shafik, former Egyptian prime minister and leader of the Egyptian Patriotic Movement and 2012 presidential candidate.[18]
Withdrawn candidates
edit- Khaled Ali, a human rights lawyer and former head of the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR)[19] and 2012 presidential candidate,[20] announced his intention to run for the presidency on 6 November 2017.[21] Ali withdrew on 24 January 2018 after the arrest of another candidate, Sami Anan. He had also been convicted of making "an obscene gesture" outside a courthouse and was in the appeal process.[22]
- Sami Hafez Anan, former Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, officially announced his candidacy in a Facebook video on 19 January 2018. He was arrested on 23 January after being accused by the Egyptian Armed Forces of forging his release from military service. It is illegal in Egypt for active military personnel to participate in politics. Anan retired from military service in 2012 after being removed by then-president Mohamed Morsi. The Defense Ministry claims that it has documentation that he is still a reserve member of the military. Anan's campaign manager claimed in a television interview that Anan had submitted the paperwork to request a discharge from his reserve status, and said Anan had followed the precedent set by President Sisi in his 2014 run.[23]
- El-Sayyid el-Badawi, chairman of the New Wafd Party.[10][24]
- Mortada Mansour, chairman of Zamalek Sporting Club.[25]
- Mohamed Anwar Esmat Sadat, expelled MP, chairman of the Reform and Development Misruna Party, former chairman of the Egyptian House of Representatives' Human Rights Committee and nephew of Anwar Sadat.[26]
Conduct
editSupporters of former presidential candidates Sami Hafez Anan and Khaled Ali faced difficulties in registering pledges for them.[27] It was reported that el-Sisi exerted pressure on former presidential candidates so that they would not run against him.[28]
According to Foreign Policy, "the March vote will in no way confirm President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's popularity among the Egyptian people. This election campaign is merely an extension of the internal power struggle among the military and the regime's security services, and it has nothing to do with democratic mechanisms worthy of the name."[29]
Results
editFollowing the elections, it was reported that large number of spoilt ballot papers, possibly more than a million, involved voters crossing out both names and writing that of football player Mohamed Salah.[30][31]
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abdel Fattah el-Sisi | Independent | 21,835,387 | 97.08 | |
| Moussa Mostafa Moussa | El-Ghad Party | 656,534 | 2.92 | |
| Total | 22,491,921 | 100.00 | ||
| Valid votes | 22,491,921 | 92.73 | ||
| Invalid/blank votes | 1,762,231 | 7.27 | ||
| Total votes | 24,254,152 | 100.00 | ||
| Registered voters/turnout | 59,078,138 | 41.05 | ||
| Source: HEC | ||||
References
edit- ^ "Egypt Sets March Date for Presidential Elections". Associated Press. 8 January 2018. Archived from the original on 8 January 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
- ^ "An idiot's guide to Egypt's 2018 presidential election". Ahram Online. 22 January 2018. Archived from the original on 23 February 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
- ^ a b "Egypt's Sisi announces intention to run for second term in 2018 presidential elections". Ahram Online. 19 January 2018. Archived from the original on 19 January 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
- ^ Rana Mamdouh (8 January 2018). "Electoral authority: Presidential elections to be held in March". Mada Masr. Retrieved 8 January 2018.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi wins second 4-year term as Egypt's president in landslide victory with 97% of valid votes". Ahram Online. 2 April 2018. Archived from the original on 15 August 2020. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
- ^ "Egypt: Planned Presidential Vote Neither Free Nor Fair". Human Rights Watch. 13 February 2018. Archived from the original on 14 July 2019. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
- ^ "Why Egypt's Presidential Elections are Neither Democratic nor Contentious". Political Violence at a Glance. 14 March 2018. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
- ^ a b "Egypt election: Sisi set to win second term as president". BBC. 29 March 2018. Archived from the original on 8 March 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
- ^ Arab Republic of Egypt IFES
- ^ a b "Wafd Party votes not to nominate chairman El-Sayed El-Badawi in Egypt's upcoming presidential elections". Ahram Online. 27 January 2018. Archived from the original on 27 January 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
- ^ "Eight liberal and leftist Egyptian parties to boycott 2018 presidential elections". Ahram Online. 30 January 2018. Archived from the original on 10 February 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
- ^ "Ex-military chief of staff to run in Egyptian presidential election". Reuters. 20 January 2018. Archived from the original on 23 January 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
- ^ "464 MPs endorse Sisi for presidency". Mada Masr. Archived from the original on 30 January 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
- ^ "Presidential hopeful Moussa Mostafa Moussa submits candidacy papers in last-minute move". Egypt Independent. 29 January 2018. Archived from the original on 29 January 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
- ^ "Egypt election: sole challenger to Sisi registers at last minute". The Guardian. 29 January 2018. Archived from the original on 29 January 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
- ^ "Ghad Party chairperson Moussa submits candidacy papers for Egypt presidential elections beating deadline". Ahram Online. 29 January 2018. Archived from the original on 30 January 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
- ^ Jehad ElSayed (29 January 2018). "Exclusive - Moussa Mostafa: I am not 'phony' candidate in presidential election". Egypt Today. Archived from the original on 5 January 2022. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
- ^ "Ahmed Shafik pulls out of Egypt presidential race". Al Jazeera. 8 January 2018. Archived from the original on 7 January 2018. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
- ^ "Egyptian presidential hopeful and rights lawyer Khaled Ali says he is withdrawing from the race". Washington Post. Associated Press. 24 January 2018. Archived from the original on 25 January 2018.
- ^ "To run or not". Al-Ahram Weekly. 25 January 2018. Archived from the original on 26 January 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
- ^ "Khaled Ali announces intention to run in upcoming presidential elections". Mada Masr. Archived from the original on 1 January 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
- ^ Michaelson, Ruth (24 January 2018). "Khaled Ali withdraws from Egyptian presidential race". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 18 December 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
- ^ "Former Armed Forces chief of staff arrested, referred to military prosecution after announcing presidential bid". Mada Masr. Archived from the original on 30 January 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
- ^ "NEC continues reviewing NGO requests to monitor presidential election". Daily News Egypt. 27 January 2018. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
- ^ "MP Mortada Mansour will not stand for 2018 presidential election". Egypt Daily News. 27 January 2018. Archived from the original on 28 January 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
- ^ "Sadat nephew and Sisi critic drops Egyptian presidential bid". The Guardian. 15 January 2018. Archived from the original on 15 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
- ^ "Failure to Launch: Egypt Opposition Hits Roadblock on Path to Presidency". Reuters. 21 January 2018. Archived from the original on 29 January 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
- ^ "Analysis: How Sisi has been sidelining his opponents". Mada Masr. 10 February 2018. Archived from the original on 21 June 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
- ^ "Egypt's Undemocratic Election". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 21 February 2018. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
- ^ "Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi wins a second term in Egypt". The Economist. 30 March 2018. Archived from the original on 3 May 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
- ^ "Egypt's election produces surprise runner-up: Mohamed Salah". The New Arab. 3 April 2018. Archived from the original on 24 December 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2018.