People in Cairo cast their votes in Egypt's presidential elections after poor turnout led organisers to arrange a third day of voting. The low voting numbers are a blow to former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who was expected to win a comfortable majority after overthrowing the Muslim Brotherhood. Sisi is still expected to win the election Continue reading... ...
Early estimates suggest former army chief has secured around 90% of votes, despite disappointing turnout The former Egyptian army chief, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, was on course for a sweeping victory in the country's presidential election on Wednesday, according to early provisional results. Sisi's campaign said their man had captured 93.4% with 2,000 polling stations counted, while judicial sources said...
US-based Democracy International says decision to extend voting into third day raises questions about integrity of process The decision to extend Egypt's presidential runoff into a third day has seriously harmed the credibility of the poll, one of the election's main international observers has claimed. The election was scheduled to end on Tuesday night but officials extended it by 24 hours amid concerns...
Critics say extension and last-minute public holiday are attempts to boost credibility of probable winner Abdel Fatah al-Sisi Egypt's presidential election was extended to a third day on Tuesday night, in the latest of a series of attempts to encourage more people to vote. The announcement followed a last-minute decision to turn Tuesday into an impromptu public holiday the first sign that officials...
Signs of low turnout prompt move in presidential election as favourite Abdel Fatah al-Sisi seeks to show country's backing Egypt has declared a national holiday, in an apparent effort to encourage a higher turnout in the second and final day of its ongoing presidential election. Ex-army chief Abdel Fatah al-Sisi is expected to easily win Tuesday's election but he and his supporters are seeking a respectable...
Former army chief Abdel Fatah al-Sisi expected to win after most candidates pull out and many dissenters opt to boycott vote Egyptians are heading to the polls to vote for their fifth head of state since 2011, in a race that the former army chief Abdel Fatah al-Sisi is expected to win easily. Sisi faces only one opponent the veteran workers' activist Hamdeen Sabahi after several would-be candidates...
With elections now under way Abdel Fatah al-Sisi's victory seems likely but learning from past mistakes will be crucial to his success Egypt goes to the polls today and tomorrow to elect a new president. But no one is in doubt who the winner will be: Abdel Fatah al-Sisi , the charismatic and popular army general and former defence minister. He was the one who delivered the coup de grace to the short...
Pragmatic engagement, not principles, likely to be the order of the day in dealings with Cairo for foreseeable future Western governments will have to come up with some tortuous language when Abdel Fatah al-Sisi becomes Egypt's president. No one doubts that the former field marshal will win this week's election by a handsome margin, thanks to a combination of genuine support, boycotts by Islamists...
Pot sheds light on the work of archeologist Flinders Petrie whose finds scattered across the world in the late 19th century A battered pot found in a garage in Cornwall, broken in antiquity and broken again and mended with superglue some 5,500 years later, was treasure but the scruffy little cardboard label it held is now unlocking a lost history of finds from excavations in Egypt scattered across...
Female activists hope newfound freedom to speak out is here to stay, with many demanding bigger long-term role in wider group On the campaign trail, Egypt's next president, Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi, has aimed much of his attention at women. They are "the calm, soft and rational voice in the house", he said in one interview . "I'm asking you now to preserve our bigger house: Egypt." On...
Leftist Hamdeen Sabahi has no real hope of winning, but believes it is important to stand In a political career spanning five decades, Hamdeen Sabahi has been arrested 17 times. But his toughest moment may come tomorrow: Sabahi is the only challenger in Egypt's presidential election, a near-coronation that the former army chief, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi , is expected to win by a landslide. Sisi has the...
America's corn belt could face yield declines of more than 25% by mid-century as climate change takes hold, report warns The collapse underway of a large part of the Antarctica ice sheet could devastate global food supply, drowning vast areas of crop lands across the Middle East and Asia, according to new research. The report, Advancing Global Food Supply in the Face of a Changing Climate, urges the...
Egypt's next president has a lot of problems and not much time to solve them When the imprisoned Mohamed Morsi found out Abdel Fatah al-Sisi sought higher office, he asked his lawyer in bemusement: "He actually wants to be president?" Here's why: Egypt is still stuck in the same economic and bureaucratic quagmires that brought millions to the street against Hosni Mubarak, and which have worsened...
Peter Geste's outburst follows airing of phone footage, including pop video, in trial of three al-Jazeera journalists The Australian al-Jazeera journalist on trial in Egypt, Peter Greste, has accused his prosecutors of unbelievable inefficiency after they tried to prove his guilt with a collection of recordings, images and videos taken from a colleague's phone including a recording of a well-known...
Former military chief who is a shoo-in for leader has given little away during election campaign Ahmed Seif remembers meeting Egypt's next president before most people had even heard of him. It was 5 February 2011, in the middle of a chaotic uprising against Hosni Mubarak, and less than a week before the then dictator's resignation. Seif, a leading human rights lawyer ,had been arrested two days...
Raslan Fadl, a doctor in a Nile delta village, is accused of killing 13-year-old schoolgirl Sohair al-Bata'a in a botched operation A doctor is to stand trial in Egypt on charges of female genital mutilation on Thursday, the first case of its kind in a country where FGM is illegal but widely accepted. Activists warned this week that the landmark case was just one small step towards eradicating the...
Deposed Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak gets three-year term while sons get four-year jail terms An Egyptian court has sentenced deposed president Hosni Mubarak to three years in prison on corruption charges, in one of two trials after the 2011 uprising that ended his rule. His sons Alaa and Gamal each received four-year jail terms, and four other defendants were acquitted. Continue reading... ...
Former US president calls on Cairo to change course Carter Center issues statement on Egyptian elections The former US president Jimmy Carter has warned Egypt that its transition to democracy after years of political turmoil is faltering, ahead of presidential elections later this month. The Carter Center will not be sending observers for Egypt's 26-27 May election, which many believe retired Field...
Court in Egypt hears prosecutors demanding fee for access to secret videos which case against trio relies on Lawyers defending three al-Jazeera journalists on trial in Egypt have been asked to pay more than £100,000 to access secret video evidence on which the prosecution's case depends, the court heard on Thursday. In a separate development, it emerged that a fourth al-Jazeera journalist jailed...
Imprisoned al-Jazeera journalist Abdullah Elshamy speaks from his cell in Cairo where he says he is being held without charge. The 26-year-old was arrested in August while covering the dispersal of a Muslim Brotherhood sit-in by security forces at Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque. He has been on hunger strike since the middle of January in protest against his imprisonment Continue reading... ...