Egypt’s presidential elections, widely regarded as a foregone conclusion, went off script this week, as a low turnout threatened to undermine the legitimacy of the eventual winner, military strongman Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.
The former defense minister, who deposed the country’s first democratically elected leader in a coup last year, was a shoe in for the presidency when voting began on 26 May. But it soon became clear that Egyptians were shunning the polling stations, a blow to Mr Sisi’s carefully crafted image of a national savior riding on a wave of popular support. (CONTINUED - 696 WORDS)
