Today’s Zaman.com – June 3, 2014 – Former Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi secured a landslide victory in the country’s presidential vote last week, the election commission confirmed on Tuesday.
Turnout was about 47 percent of Egypt’s 54 million voters, the commission said – less than the 40 million votes, or 80 percent of the electorate, that Sisi had called for.
Sisi gained wide support from Egyptians after toppling President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood last year, prompted by mass protests against his rule.
He now faces staggering challenges in a country where street demonstrations have helped to topple two leaders in three years.
The lower-than-expected turnout raises questions about Sisi’s ability to maintain popularity while attempting to fix a battered economy, ease poverty and prevent further political crises from paralyzing Egypt.
For now, Sisi’s supporters seemed content to celebrate the moment, gathering by the thousands in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the symbolic heart of the uprising that ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011, and elsewhere. Continue reading.