Grand imam congratulates Sisi on 2nd presidential term

CAIRO - 2 April 2018: Al Azhar Grand Imam Ahmed Al Tayyeb congratulated President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi on winning a second presidential term.

In a statement on Monday, Al Azhar lauded the transparency and integrity of the presidential elections and the state's efforts to rendering the voting process easy and free.

The Islamic institution wished Sisi progress and stability in his new presidential term, added the statement.

President Sisi garnered 97.08 percent of valid votes in the presidential election last week, where more than 21.08 million people voted for him. His competitor, Moussa Moustafa Moussa, received 656,534 votes, making up 2.9 percent of the valid ballots.

The turnout stood at 24,254,152 voters; 41 percent of the electorate.

Much like the 2014 election, when Sisi competed against well-known politician Hamdeen Sabahy, invalid votes ranked second in the poll. In the 2014 vote, 23.4 million people voted for Sisi, invalid votes accounted for one million ballots, and Sabahy amassed 740,000 votes.

In 2018, invalid votes made up 7.27 percent of the total votes, accounting for 1.762 million ballots. If invalid votes are not excluded from the results, Sisi's share of the total votes would be 90 percent.

In a press conference on Monday, the National Election Authority announced the unsurprising figures, and its head, Lasheen Ibrahim, applauded the turnout of Egyptian expats abroad and the judicial supervision of the poll.