The Egyptian government launched a determined effort to get out the vote yesterday after lower than expected turnout in a presidential election threatened to undermine the credibility of the frontrunner, former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
After Sisi called for record voter participation, low turnout would be seen at home and abroad as an immediate setback for the field marshal who toppled Egypt’s first freely elected leader, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi.
Sisi faces only one challenger in the election: the leftist Hamdeen Sabahi, who came third in a 2012 vote won by Morsi and was seen as a long-shot in the race against an army man who became popular after ending Morsi’s divisive year in office.
“I was going to vote for Sisi because he will be the president anyway, and because I was grateful to him for removing the Brotherhood from power,” said Hani Ali, 27, who works in the private sector.
“But now I won’t go as I felt people are unhappy with the chaos of the past months and are not as pro-Sisi as I thought.”
Lines outside polling stations in various parts of Cairo were short, and in some cases no voters could be seen yesterday, the second day of voting.
The polls closed at 10pm (1900 GMT), an hour later than planned.
It is the second time Egyptians are electing a president in two years, and it is the seventh vote or referendum since 2011.
The justice ministry warned Egyptians who did not vote would be fined and train fares were waived in an effort to boost the numbers. Local media loyal to the government chided the public for not turning out in large enough numbers.
One prominent TV commentator, a government loyalist from the Mubarak days, said people who did not vote were “traitors, traitors, traitors”.
Al-Azhar, a state-run body that is Egypt’s highest Islamic authority, said failure to vote was “to disobey the nation”, state TV reported. Pope Tawadros, head of Egypt’s Coptic church, also appeared on state TV to urge voters to head to the polls.
Sisi’s supporters see him as a decisive figure who can steer Egypt out of three years of turmoil. He became a hero to many for removing Morsi after mass protests against his rule.
“He is the head of the army, he is respected, he is not corrupt or a thief so am voting for Sisi,” said Douaa Mohammad 34, mother of two, as she waited to vote in the Cairo working class district of Imbaba.
Sisi was widely seen as the most powerful figure in the interim government that has waged a bloody crackdown on the Brotherhood, declaring it an enemy of the state, and putting its leaders on trial on charges that carry the death penalty. His priorities are fighting Islamist militants who have taken up arms since Morsi’s removal, and reviving an economy battered by more than three years of turmoil that has driven away tourists and investors.