International observers praise 2018 presidential election

CAIRO – 2 April 2018: International observers have praised the 2018 presidential election, which was conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Egyptian Constitution and the Egyptian Electoral Code.

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

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

President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi garnered 97.08 percent of valid votes in the presidential election last week, where more than 21.08 million people voted for him. His competitor, Ghad Party Chairman Moussa Moustafa Moussa, received 656,534 votes, making up 2.9 percent of the valid ballots. Initial figures showed that 21,088,295 voted for Sisi in polling stations across Egypt, excluding several stations in Cairo and Giza.

Much like the 2014 election, when Sisi competed against well-known politician Hamdeen Sabahy, invalid votes ranked second in the poll at 7.27 percent, accounting for 1.762 million ballots. In the 2014 vote, 23.4 million people voted for Sisi, invalid votes accounted for one million ballots, and Sabahy amassed 740,000 votes.

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