As President, El-Sisi must bring security, stability

Retired Field Marshal Abdel Fattah El-Sisi's victory in the Egyptian presidential poll was never in doubt. He had been at the helm of affairs for the past one year and he was the state's de facto nominee in this election. The only other candidate, Mr Hamdeen Sabahi, did not even offer a token opposition. Unsurprisingly then, Field Marshal Sisi won more than 90 per cent of the votes polled. That is no small achievement, yet the Field Marshal’s victory somehow rings hollow. Over the past several months, he had projected himself as a national hero, the only one capable of bringing peace and stability to his country. Yet, in spite of the all the media endorsements in his favour, the campaign failed to enthuse the electorate. On the first day of polling, turnout was a low 18 per cent; this prompted the Election Commission to declare a host of measures to incentivise the voters (which were frowned upon by opposition leaders and poll observers). The second day of polling was declared a national holiday, a third day was added to the voting schedule, and those who didn't make it to polling station were even threatened with a fine. Meanwhile, Egyptian media too played its part by berating the public for its ‘lazy’ and ‘anti-national’ behaviour. Ultimately, the state machinery managed to massage the official turnout figure to a slightly more respectable 44 per cent. But the Sisi campaign still has to live with the fact that the man it had portrayed as the darling of the masses wasn't quite the nation's favourite. For the President-elect, this poses to be bit of a PR challenge. A large turnout would have helped him fight criticism that the vote has been a mockery of the democratic process. It would have also given more legitimacy to the Government of Field Marshal Sisi, who had ousted Mr Mohamed Morsi from the President's office last year. For all practical purposes, it was a military coup with limited public sanction. As the first military leader to occupy the President's office in the post-Mubarak era, Field Marshal Sisi would understandably have liked to whitewash the coup off his record.

looking ahead, the new President's priority will be to restore law and order and shore up the economy. Three years of political instability has pushed Egypt to the brink. Apart from a precarious security situation that has taken a heavy toll, the common man has been burdened by price rise, unemployment and a debilitating energy crisis. It is unclear if Field Marshal Sisi has a comprehensive plan for national rebuilding; on the contrary, there are fears that he may take Egypt back to autocracy. One only hopes that he has learnt his lessons from the fate that President Morsi suffered. Having been popularly elected with a strong mandate, the Muslim Brotherhood leader failed to deliver on the people's demands. Instead, he tried to concentrate all powers in his hands and impose a harsh Islamist agenda. The people responded by rising up in arms against him.