Vantage | Why El Sisi is Egypt's, and world's, best bet in these times

Egypt, the land of the Pharaohs, went through polls with about 112 million citizens. It is the most populous Arab nation in the world. By far, about 25 percent of all Arab people live in Egypt. It’s also the third-most populous African country. So the politics of Egypt have a huge impact on the region and the world. Now, Egypt has finished its elections, with voting being held over three days and around 67 million people eligible to vote. Voters have to decide on the country’s next president; there are four candidates in the race and three relatively minor players. The incumbent president and the only major candidate, General Abdel Fattah El Sisi, has ruled Egypt since 2014, when he overthrew the previous president, Mohamed Morsi. And this makes El Sisi sound like a military dictator, but it’s more complicated than that.

In 2011, we saw the Arab Spring, when Arab countries revolted against dictators. At that time Egypt was ruled by Hosni Mubarak, a military dictator who’d been in power for almost 30 years. Mubarak was ousted after the Arab Spring and elections were held in 2012, in which Mohammed Morsi became president. But he was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, an organisation with ties to Hamas, an organisation that was considered extremist and is now banned in Egypt. So Morsi was ousted by the military, and President El Sisi became the president. He helped bring stability to Egypt, and brought in a form of military rule that Egypt was perhaps used to. And he has remained president since then and now, he’s standing for a third consecutive presidential term. If he wins, he’ll be in power till 2030. The elections were conducted between Sunday and Tuesday, and we should have the results on the 18th of December. Egypt has been facing an economic crisis for a while now, since last March, the local currency has been on a decline, the Egyptian pound’s value against the US dollar is half of what it was last year and this has caused turmoil. Inflation was officially at 38.5 percent in October which was slightly below the 40.3 percent in September. This is partially due to the currency devaluation. Egypt imports billions of dollars worth of food. In 2021, it spent over 4.5 billion dollars on wheat imports alone. Last year saw the beginning of the war in Ukraine, and wheat prices shot up. This took a toll on Egypt’s import bill. So the currency went down and the food bill went up. All of this is weighing heavily on Egypt’s economy, and leading to real hardship for the people, but here’s the silver lining. Egyptians are better off than their neighbours, like Sudan, Libya and Yemen, and of course, Gaza, all of them are torn by war. Egypt is an oasis of stability in this region, and critical to resolving the crisis in Gaza. In fact, experts say the war in Gaza has affected the election in Egypt. The country’s domestic problems have taken a back seat. “The Gaza war was a major boost for president Sisi and like many other countries in the world, in the case of external threat, in the case of a war, people tend to rally behind the leader,” said a leading member of the Civil Democratic Movement, Khaled Dawoud. “Before the events of Gaza, the pressure on economic and the living conditions as well as other issues were questioned by people and had created a state of anger against president Sisi and big reservations against his policies. Since the beginning of the events in Gaza, there has been a state of calm and tranquillity in the minds of many, who started to feel that it was better if the current president continues,” said the head of the Reform and Development party and a former member of parliament, Mohamed Anwar Sadat. The Egyptian president has often been accused of cracking down on dissent. Of tightening his grip on power. But no one is raising those objections right now. As the war in Gaza continues, Egypt needs stability. It is crucial for getting aid into the Gaza Strip, and for negotiating with all the geopolitical players. Egypt was the first Arab nation to recognise Israel and it shares decent ties with the West. It is also a major Arab player that borders Gaza. All these points make it the perfect middleman in the current crisis. In this situation, El Sisi’s re-election is pretty much guaranteed. Right now, the world needs a stable Egypt, and this man is their best bet. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost_’s views._ Read all the  Latest News,  Trending News,  Cricket News,  Bollywood News, India News and  Entertainment News here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.