Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi wins a second term in Egypt

ABDEL-FATTAH AL-SISI is not waiting in suspense for the results of Egypt’s presidential election. The incumbent had only one challenger, a virtual nobody, in the three-day vote that started on March 26th. Though official numbers will not be released until next week, a preliminary tally in state media shows Mr Sisi winning a second term with 92% of the vote. His opponent, Moussa Mustafa Moussa, netted just 3%. Local media called the charade Egypt’s “wedding” to democracy. It was clearly an arranged marriage.

Even so it was not the commanding victory Mr Sisi wanted. A state newspaper, Al-Ahram, said that 25m people voted, about 42% of the electorate. That is markedly less than the 47% who voted in 2014. More than 1m Egyptians spoiled their ballots, nearly twice the number who chose Mr Moussa. (Some crossed out both candidates and wrote in Mohamed Salah, a popular Egyptian footballer.) By Friday afternoon state media had stopped reporting on the ruined ballots, and credited Mr Sisi with winning 97% of the valid vote.