The Road to Ittihadeya

Looking back on the 2014 Presidential Elections

Photography by the Associated Press

                     Presidential candidate Abdul Fattah El Sisi hit the campaign trail with military discipline, granting few media interviews and making limited public appearances. Meanwhile, his supporters plastered the country with endorsements of the former defense minister on billboards and banners. In his interviews, El Sisi promised to restore security and called for public sacrifices to help Egypt weather the current economic crisis.                Long-time Nasserist politician Hamdeen Sabbahy, in contrast, actively campaigned on the streets. In addition to his traditional popularity with the working classes, Sabbahy called for the youth and revolutionary movements to back him, promising to immediately rescind the protest law.                  The voting kicked off on May 15 with expatriates voting at 141 Egyptian embassies and consulates around the world. Expats were required to vote in person with a valid national ID, and a higher than expected turnout led the Presidential Election Committee to extend voting an extra day to May 19. El Sisi won this round of polling, taking 94.5% of 318,033 votes cast overseas.                      Voting for the rest of the nation ran May 26-27, with the government urging citizens to go to the polls. After reportedly low turnouts on the first day of voting, Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb declared that May 27 would be a public holiday for all governmental and national institutes. Voting was for the most part peaceful, with stations cordoned off and heavily guarded by military and security forces.  At press time, however, local media reported one person injured from a small bomb detonated in Heliopolis.