Sisi to give televised speech after victory: presidential spox

CAIRO – 2 April 2018: "President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi will give a televised speech in the coming minutes addressing the Egyptian, after he had been announced the winner of the 2018 presidential election held last week," presidential spokesperson Bassam Radi told Egypt Today Monday.

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 percent of the valid ballots. The turnout stood at 24,254,152 voters; 41 percent of the electorate.

Citizens in various places in Egypt began celebrating the victory shortly after the National Election Authority's press conference. The poll itself witnessed major celebrations by voters, a show of joy that has been a custom in all the elections that followed the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood regime in July 2013.

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

Ibrahim said the independent organization of the NEA enabled voters to cast their ballots outside their governorates by firstly registering their preferred area of voting.

Judges were transported to polling stations at locations of major construction projects, such as the New Administrative Capital, so workers are not deprived from voting.

The judicial supervision provided transparency during the poll and the sorting of the ballots, and the NEA showed full cooperation with local and international NGOs that observed the election, Ibrahim added.

According to a tweet by Foreign Ministry spokesperson, international missions that followed the poll have praised it.

Statements by International observers of Presidential Elections 2018 pic.twitter.com/e6rYvZEsHZ

— Egypt MFA Spokesman (@MfaEgypt) April 2, 2018

Eissa Abdel Rahman, director of the documentation department of documentation at CEN-SAD, told Egypt Today on the last day of the election March 28 that security outside polling stations kept voters reassured, and that judges have been cooperative and answered all observers’ questions.

He added that ballot boxes were secured and well-sealed, praising the NEA's cooperation with his mission.