Egypt's Sisi vows to work for all Egyptians without discrimination after securing second term

Source: 
Ahram Online
Publication date: 
Apr 02 2018

In his first speech after winning a second term as Egypt's president on Monday, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi vowed to work for all Egyptians without any discrimination.

"I promise to work for all Egyptians without discrimination. Those who renewed their confidence in me [with their votes] are not different from those who did otherwise. Egypt includes all, as long as a difference in opinion doesn't spoil a nation's cause," President El-Sisi stated in the televised speech after winning a sweeping 97% of the votes.

He added that "common grounds were greater and more welcoming than fixed ideologies or narrow interests."

El-Sisi hinted that working on more collaborative grounds would be a priority in his upcoming term.

"My confidence in the intelligence of the Egyptian nation was without doubt," he said, adding that his bet on the Egyptian people had not faded and that they did they let him down.

The Egyptian president also thanked sole contender and Ghad Party chairman Moussa Moustafa Moussa, describing him as one that has waged "a patriotic and noble electoral battle." El-Sisi also offered his appreciation for all efforts that have been carried out for the sake of the nation, and concluding his speech by repeating "long live Egypt" three times.

Earlier, Moussa thanked citizens for turning out in the presidential elections, saying their participation proved the people of Egypt are capable of facing all challenges and pressures.

"The presidential elections were fair and serve as a role model of integrity," Moussa said, praising the efforts of Ghad party members in support of his bid.

Moussa saluted the re-elected president and wished him best of luck, affirming that El-Sisi is the best person for the post. On his low percentage of votes, Moussa said if any other candidate ran in the elections race against President El-Sisi, that candidate would have got lower votes than Moussa himself even gained.

"If I ran in the elections against any other candidate other than President El-Sisi, I would have gotten more votes for certain," Moussa said, stressing that the most important aspect of this election is that all Egyptians served their national duty.

Both speeches came a few hours after the country's National Elections Authority (NEA) declared incumbent President El-Sisi the winner of Egypt's 2018 presidential elections with 97 percent of valid votes in an electoral process that witnessed the turnout of 24 million out of 59 million eligible voters, or 41%.

El-Sisi secured an expected second four-year term after winning 21,835,378 votes. Moussa won 656,534 votes, or 2.92 percent of total votes.

The authority said the number of invalidated ballots was 1,762,231 or 7.27 percent of total votes cast.

El-Sisi is due to be sworn in at the House of Representatives in Cairo in June, as per constitutional guidelines, according Egyptian parliament's spokeperson Ali Abdel-Aal.

Ahram Online

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/294927.aspx