President settles in for another 4 years after being re-elected with 97% of the vote
BY TESFANEWS *
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was sworn in on Saturday before the parliament for a second four-year term in office, state-run Nile TV reported.
Sisi won 97 percent of the vote in a landslide re-election victory, with a turnout of 41 percent, beating his sole rival Moussa Mostafa Moussa.
After taking the oath of office he said in his speech he wanted to create a “common space” for Egyptians and that only those “who chose violence, terrorism and extremist thought as a way to impose their will” would be excluded.
The president has faced a series of jihadist attacks that have killed hundreds of military personnel and civilians, many of them in the northern Sinai peninsula.
Mr Sisi also said: “Together we face economic, social and political challenges and their negative effects on all aspects of life.”
Although GDP has risen in the past year, economic recovery remains fragile and cuts to subsidies have proved unpopular. Egypt took a $12bn (£9bn) IMF loan in December 2016.
Sisi was first elected in 2014, also with 97 percent, with a 47-percent turnout in the election.
Under the Egyptian constitution, the country’s president must take the oath before a special session of the parliament after winning elections and before his presidential term officially starts, which in El-Sisi’s case begins on June 3.
El-Sisi’s re-election was widely expected, as his only rival in the vote, Mousa Mostafa Mousa, was a little-known figure who had previously supported his re-election.
He will be in office until 2022.
* CGTN Africa and BBC News contributed to the story.
