Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (Source: AFP/VNA)
State-run newspaper Akhbar al-Youm said that Sisi, who ran against just one other candidate, won about 22 million votes out of a total of 24 million. Official results are scheduled to be announced on April 2nd.
Mr. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, born on November 19th, 1954, is the sixth President of Egypt, in office since 2014.
In an interview days ahead of the vote, Mr. Sisi said he had wished there were more candidates, denying any role in sidelining them. At a speech before the vote he also called for a high turnout.
“I need you because the journey is not over,” Mr. Sisi told a mostly female audience. “I need every lady and mother and sister, please, I need the entire world to see us in the street” voting.
Mr. Sisi’s sole challenger was Mousa Mostafa Mousa, who previously declared that he “was not here to challenge the president” and who entered the race at the last minute after five other potential challengers were blocked from getting on the ballot.
Mousa conceded his loss on Wednesday night, telling a TV station he had hoped for 10% of the vote. “But I know the immense popularity of President Sisi,” he said.
Earlier, 200,000 police were mobilized to tighten security ahead of the presidential election in Egypt, as a car bomb explosion in northern Egypt had killed at least two people.
The blast occurred just two days before the opening of the Presidential election.
Egypt’s Interior Ministry also declared a state of “high alert” in the run-up to presidential polls./.