CAIRO: Egyptians were initially slow to vote on a hastily added third day of a presidential election on Wednesday after lower-than-expected turnout threatened to damage the credibility of the man widely forecast to win, former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
An early tour of Cairo polling stations suggested authorities would again struggle to get more people to cast their ballots. The same pattern emerged in Egypt’s second city, Alexandria, Reuters reporters said.
In a country polarised since a popular uprising toppled Hosni Mubarak in 2011, the low turnout was linked to political apathy, opposition to another military man becoming president, discontent at suppression of freedoms among liberal youth, and calls for a boycott by Islamists.
After months of adulation by the media encouraged by his supporters in government, the security services and business, many Egyptians were shocked when the election failed to produce the mass support predicted by Sisi himself.
For Sisi, who toppled President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood last year after mass protests against his rule, the stakes are high.
Poor backing in the election in his deeply divided country would mean Sisi’s legitimacy as head of state of the Arab world’s most populous nation would be harmed at home and abroad.
The two-day vote was originally due to conclude on Tuesday but was extended until 9 pm (2330 IST) today to allow the “greatest number possible” to vote, state media reported.
“The state searches for a vote,” said a front-page headline in privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper.
Distancing Sisi from the vote extension, seen by commentators as an embarrassing attempt to attract every last vote from a reluctant electorate, his campaign announced that he had objected to the decision. Sisi’s campaign posted picture of voters waving Egyptian flags and holding Sisi posters. “Come out and raise the flag of your country,” it said on Facebook. (PTI)
