A Year Later, the Coup Takes the Egyptian Presidency

It has been far too long since I’ve written a blog post about current events in Egypt. Most of the developments since August 2013 have occurred in the last couple months.

At the end of May, General Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi was elected as the new president of Egypt. But don't be fooled: a small percentage of the country went to the polls – according to the government, the turnout was about 46% of registered voters, but Egyptians question this report – by some accounts, it may have been as low as 23%. Thus, Sisi’s “landslide” victory (~97% of votes) does not actually represent the majority support that Sisi was hoping for (by comparison, Muhammad Morsi took about 52% of the vote in 2012, out of a turnout of 52% of registered voters). Adding a day to the voting period did not change the outcome. Those who came to the polls likely already supported Sisi; those who abstained from voting either opposed him or saw no point.

Islamist as well as liberal and secular activist groups boycotted the booths on Election Day. They argue that the election was a sham and, with only one serious candidate, hardly impartial. The lack of majority support throws further doubt on Sisi’s legitimacy as president.

Keep in mind that this is the same General Sisi that replaced former President Morsi as interim leader after Morsi’s ouster last July. Ironically, Morsi had placed Sisi in his position of power as Commander-In-Chief the previous year. Sisi then presided over the slaughter of hundreds of Morsi supporters from the Muslim Brotherhood. Over 1,400 deaths have occurred so far and some 16,000 detained (on the record – the total is probably more). The Muslim Brotherhood is now banned in Egypt.

Sisi’s actions as president so far have also not been encouraging. Last month he refused to interfere when three journalists from Al-Jazeera were sentenced to seven years in prison for supposedly aiding the Muslim Brotherhood by reporting on the coup against Morsi and the chaos that followed. The “evidence” presented was laughably irrelevant (e.g., family holiday photos from one of the journalists, and a film about an Egyptian horse sanctuary??). Only last week did Sisi announce that he would have preferred to have the journalists deported rather than imprisoned – no doubt in response to the onslaught of condemning coverage the trial received from international media.

Sisi also stated last week that the government’s recent reduction on fuel subsidies is a harsh but necessary measure. The price of gasoline has increased by as much as 80%. Not a great first measure to help the economy.

As unimpressed as I am, I do hope that Sisi will be able to do some good for Egypt. His decisions have appalled me so far, particularly in regard to the genocide he oversaw, but right now, he is the only ready option that Egypt has. I just pray that he will take his job seriously and come up with some viable ways to address Egypt’s mounting concerns.