Algerian President Bouteflika congratulates Sisi

ALGIERS - 2 April 2018: Algerian President Abdel Aziz Bouteflika cabled his congratulations to President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi on his victory in the presidential elections.

Bouteflika wished the Egyptian leader success and the people progress and prosperity.

President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi garnered 97.08 percent of valid votes in the presidential elections last week, where more than 21.8 million people voted for him. His hardly-known competitor received 656,534 votes, making up 2.9% of the valid ballots. The turnout stood at 24,254,152 voters, representing 41 percent of 50,078,138 registered voters

Much like the 2014 election, where Sisi competed against well-known politician Hamdeen Sabahy, void votes ranked second in the poll.

In 2018, void votes made up 7.27 percent of the total votes, accounting for 1.762 million ballots. If void votes are not exclude from the result, Sisi's share of the total votes would be 90 percent.

In a Monday press conference, the National Elections Authority announced the unsurprising figures, yet its head, judge Ibrahim Lachine, applauded the turnout of Egyptian expats abroad and the judicial supervision of the poll.

In the 2014 vote, 23.4 million people voted for Sisi, void votes accounted for one million ballots, and Sabahy amassed 740,000 votes.

President Sisi competed against el-Ghad Party chairperson Moussa Moustafa Moussa.