Presidential runner-up Moussa Mostafa Moussa told al-Ahram he felt proud of the result of the presidential election, after obtaining an estimated 3 percent of the vote, as he said it showed the true will of the Egyptian people and took place in a democratic and transparent atmosphere.
Moussa believes the election has shown that Egypt has passed a dangerous phase, “I thank god that Egypt has become stable and has passed its rough period as shown by this free, fair election,” he said, denouncing any claims questioning the process.
He added that the result statistically disputes any claims by foreign media, who produced inaccurate reports about the election. The results are also a big blow to the European Union (EU) who, according to Moussa, did not attempt to follow the election and was content making assumptions from afar.
Moussa also expressed his gratitude to the Egyptian people who rushed to the ballots despite the bad weather on election days, saying “the numbers could have been larger if not for the weather, but the numbers are also good and could surpass 40 percent.” The final result will be announced by the National Election Authority (NEA) on April 2.
The presidential runner-up added that he was not shocked by the results as they were logical given Sisi’s popularity and the people’s love for the president, adding that “I was just hoping for 10 percent of the votes.”
Moussa also said that the real success was that people took to the streets to vote in the first place, and that Egyptians stood together against Egypt’s enemies, both inside the country and around the world. He said that after this success, numbers did not matter.
“We all know Sisi’s role and will stand by him to propel Egypt into a new level,” Moussa said. He called the Egyptian people the real winners of the election as they had the opportunity to decide their destiny in the next period under the leadership of Sisi.
He also added that participation in real democratic elections has been the reason for Egypt’s stability in the first place. The next period requires hard work and true cooperation from all of society, to come up with means of improving the economy, he said.
Moussa said that he will be presenting his presidential program to the president and will be cooperating with him to attempt to improve the Egyptian economy in the shortest possible period.
Finally, he concluded, “the presidential election was a step on the correct road to begin working together towards Egypt’s best interest.” He emphasized that Egypt needs strong cooperation to pass its economic crisis.
Moussa claimed that there are still attempts to destroy Egypt despite the failure of all past attempts. He said he will be discussing with the president a new mechanism in which he believes parties should operate under to achieve their real goal of protecting the people, and operate in an effective way rather than merely being a show.
According to the preliminary numbers for the election results, Sisi won approximately 92 precent of the votes, reported Al-Ahram.
Al-Akhbar, meanwhile, said Sisi won around 21.5 million votes, while Moussa garnered 721,000 votes. However, unofficial reports indicate that number of people who did not vote was larger than the number of those who voted for Moussa, reported BBC Arabic.
Moussa, who is the head of the Ghad Party, announced he will be running for president in January and submitted his papers minutes before the deadline. The candidate had previous unwavering support for Sisi throughout the campaigning period before the election.
