Egypt’s former military chief appeared well on his way to a landslide victory over his sole opponent, according to partial election results announced late Wednesday, after voting was extended for a third day in an attempt to prevent an embarrassment over low turnout.
The campaign of retired field marshal Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said he won 10.35 million votes after nearly half the ballots were counted, with left-wing politician Hamdeen Sabahi taking 333,566.
The 59-year-old former infantry officer had hoped for a strong turnout to bestow legitimacy on his ouster last July of Egypt’s first freely elected president Mohammed Morsi.
However, el-Sissi’s campaign said turnout nationwide was around 44 percent, even after voting was extended for a third day Wednesday – well below the nearly 52 percent won by Morsi.
In his final campaign TV interview last week, el-Sissi set the bar even higher, saying he wanted more than 40 million voters to cast ballots – a turnout of more than 80 percent to “show the world” the extent of his popular backing.
