Egypt’s president is sworn in for a third 6-year term after running virtually unopposed
FILE - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi gestures during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in Cairo, Egypt, on Oct. 25, 2023. President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt was sworn in for a third six-year term on Tuesday April 2, 2024 after being re-elected in a December vote in which he faced no serious challengers. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, Pool, File)
CAIRO (AP) — President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt was sworn in for a third six-year term on Tuesday after being re-elected in a December vote in which he faced no serious challengers.
El-Sissi took the oath of office before parliament, which convened in the new administrative capital in the desert outside Cairo.
El-Sissi won 89.6% of the vote in the December election, with turnout of 66.8% more than 67 million registered voters. He ran against three virtually unknown opponents.
The vote was overshadowed by the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza on Egypt’s eastern border, which has threatened to expand into wider regional turmoil.
El-Sissi was first elected as president in mid-2014, then reelected in 2018. A year later, constitutional amendments, passed in a general referendum, added two years to el-Sissi’s second term, and allowed him to run for a third, six-year term.
His victory in this latest election was widely seen as inevitable. His three opponents were marginal political figures who were rarely seen during the election campaign.