Parliament to declare date of presidential swearing-in ceremony

CAIRO – 14 May 2018: The Parliament and presidency are making the necessary arrangements for President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi to swear the oath before the Parliament in early June for his second presidential term after winning 97.08 percent of valid votes during the 2018 presidential election.

Ahmed Helmyel Sherif, deputy of the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee, said that according to Article 140 of the constitution,“The President of the Republic shall be elected for a period of four calendar years, commencing on the day the term of his predecessor ends.”

Sherif added that, according to Article 231, Sisi’s first presidential term started on June 3, 2014, when the presidential election results were declared and shall be finished before that period.

He also remarked that Article 144, stating that the elected president must be sworn in before Parliament, willbe applied for the first time since 2005;presidents were sworn in before the members of the General Assembly of the Supreme Constitutional Court due to the absence of a validly elected Parliament.

In the same context, a high level source pointed out that the Parliament will determine the date of swearing in within days, and will invite Parliament members,international and national figures, the head and members of the National Election Authority, the heads of several judicial bodies, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Pope Tawadros II, and the heads of states of Arab and foreign countries to attend the plenary session of the swearing-in ceremony.

Sisi garnered 97.08 percent of valid votes in the 2018 presidential election, where more than 21.8 million people voted for him. His hardly-known competitor, El-Ghad Party chairperson Moussa Moustafa Moussa, 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.

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 to 1.762 million ballots. If void votes are not excluded from the result, Sisi's share of the total votes would be 90 percent.

In the 2014 vote, 23.4 million people voted for Sisi, void votes reached 1million ballots, and Sabahy amassed 740,000 votes.