History website sheds light on electing Gamal Abdel Nasser as Egypt’s President in 1956

CAIRO – 23 June 2021: The American "History" website highlighted an important Egyptian memory, which is the election of Gamal Abdel Nasser as President of Egypt on June 23, 1956.

At the time, Nasser won with more than 99 percent of the Egyptian electorate.

In the same ballot, Nasser's new constitution was approved with 99.8 percent of the electorate.

Gamal Abdel Nasser was born in Alexandria in 1918. As a young man, he participated in demonstrations against British rule in Egypt.

After high school he studied at the Faculty of Law for several months and then joined the Royal Military Academy. In 1938, he graduated with the rank of second lieutenant.

While serving in Sudan during World War II, he contributed in founding the "Free Officers" movement. Its members sought to overthrow the king and overthrow the British.

In 1948, Nasser served as a major in the war against Israel and was wounded in the fight. On July 23, 1952, Nasser led another 89 free officers in the famous July Revolution.

A new government was formed by the Revolutionary Command Council led by Abdel Nasser, whose leader was Major General Mohamed Naguib.

In 1954, Nasser became Egypt's prime minister, and over the next two years, Nasser ruled as an effective and popular leader and promulgated a new constitution that made Egypt a socialist Arab state, consciously not allied with the communist or capitalist regimes prevailing in the world of the Cold War.