Video: el-Sisi defends re-election in face of international criticism
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil el-Sisi was re-elected to a second term as President of Egypt. The 6th elected President of Egypt, el-Sisi was elected to office in 2014 following a military coup he led that removed President Mohamed Morsi from office the previous year on July 3, 2013. El-Sisi had been appointed by Morsi as commander of the Egyptian military.
President el-Sisi ran in the elections in May 26-28, 2014 and was sworn in on June 8, 2014 amid criticism from Morsi’s followers, members of Egypt’s feared Muslim Brotherhood. President el-Sisi ran for re-election on March 26-28, 2018 after six prominent rivals were removed from the ballot and jailed. A 7th Candidate Moussa Moustapha Moussa ran against el-Sisi but el-Sisi received 97.8 percent of the votes cast in what 14 international Human Rights organizations called a “sham.”
Despite accusations of corruption by Morsi supporters and other groups, el-Sisi received the support of 464 members of Egypt’s Parliament who joined international groups in denouncing the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization and defended el-Sisi’s election victory.
el-Sisi was born in Cairo and after joining the military, held a post in Saudi Arabia before enrolling in the Egyptian Army’s Command and Staff College. In 1992, el-Sisi trained at the Joint Services Command and Staff College at Watchfield, Oxfordshire, in the United Kingdom, and then in 2006 trained at the United States Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. el-Sisi served as a mechanized infantry commander and then as director of military intelligence. After the Egyptian revolution of 2011 and election of Mohamed Morsi to the Egyptian presidency, el-Sisi was appointed Minister of Defense by Morsi on 12 August 2012, replacing the Mubarak-era Hussein Tantawi.
Egypt President Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil el-Sisi making his election victory speech on April 4, 2018 following his re-election.
As Minister of Defense, and ultimately Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian Armed Forces, el-Sisi was involved in the military coup that removed Morsi from office on July 3, 2013, in response to June 2013 Egyptian protests, called a revolution by its proponents. He dissolved the Egyptian Constitution of 2012 and proposed, along with leading opposition and religious figures, a new political road map, which included the voting for a new constitution, and new parliamentary and presidential elections. Morsi was replaced by an interim president, Adly Mansour, who appointed a new cabinet. The interim government cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamist supporters in the months that followed, and later on certain liberal opponents of the post-Morsi administration. On 14 August 2013, police carried out the August 2013 Rabaa massacre, killing hundreds of civilians and wounding thousands, leading to international criticism.
Here is President el-Sisi’s election victory speech in text and in video:
Use the widget above to watch the video in Arabic or click here to go to Youtube.
el-Sisi speech in English:
In the Name of God the Almighty
The Great People of Egypt,
Dear people of honour, who prove all the time that they are vibrant, capable of facing the challenge itself… capable of enforcing their free will and raising it high above any desires or interests except the interests of the homeland and its objectives.
Today, I am speaking to you again renewing the promise of honesty and transparency, which I have promised you before. I would like to address you away from the official language and the usual formal language structures. I would like to speak with you about the feelings of sheer pride that overwhelmed me as I watched closely the scenes of your rally before the polling stations. Your impressive rally was not to choose a person, who would head the state, but it was a rally to renew the pledge on a national path, which the sons of this nation have decided to take its side and continue fighting the battle of survival and construction.
Dear sons of Egypt,
Being proud of you is deeply-rooted in my conscience and also my trust in the genius of the Egyptian nation can neither be doubted nor misinterpreted. My national choices that have always been biased to the will of the Egyptians stemmed from this trust and from my belief that we are a great nation which senses honesty as much as it senses the lies of those, who trade with its dreams and future and thus rise up against them.
I tell you with all honesty and impartiality that all the challenges we have faced and all the problems we have dealt with as well as the crises that we have passed, were the secret of our victory over them and the true bet on the genius of this people and its rich civilization and cultural background in addition to its history that extends deep along with the civilization itself. My bet on the Egyptians has never failed and their loyalty, enthusiasm and impartiality never disappointed me. And we, together, have mobilized the capabilities of the nation with all its elements and pillars. And here is the great homeland draws to us and with us a wonderful national picture. Once again, a picture that does not exclude anyone. The scene of the popular mobilization of all the segements of the Egyptian fabric was dazzling and hopeful. Here is the Egyptian family progressing steadily and confidently, the young people filled with enthusiasm and hope, the elderly fulfilling the right of the homeland, the workers making glory, the farmers are planting the dream, preceded by the Egyptian women, who represent the voice of conscience and the icon of challenge as well as the symbol of sacrifice and strength in facing challenges. All this firmly established that it is the greatest Egyptian phrase in the national annals of honor. This popular mobilization was a compelling proof of the strength of the Egyptian society in the face of those, who wanted to destroy it. This national picture was decorated with the heroes of Egypt from the Armed Forces and the police, who are determined to provide maximum security, protection and safety to the Egyptian people while they are expressing their will, and under the full judicial supervision of the honorable judges of Egypt, who represented transparency and impartiality with all honesty and sincerity.
Great People of Egypt,
I would like to greet you all and to extend my appreciation and respect for what you have done for Egypt, the cherished homeland.
I honestly promise you that I will fulfill my pledge to you; to be sincere in my work, not to spare any effort for the sake of our nation’s superiority, to strive to build its institutions with all strength and determination, to raise its status among nations with determination to maintain development and stability and to provide a decent life for its citizens. I promise that I will work for all Egyptians without discrimination of any kind. Whoever has renewed confidence and voted for me has not been different from those who voted against me. Egypt embraces all the Egyptians, as long as the differences of opinion do not harm the country’s image. Our common denominators are broader than specific ideologies or narrow interests. Seeking to increase the common denominators between the Egyptians would figure high on priorities of the national agenda during the next phase.
On this great occasion, I would like to express my thanks and appreciation to Mr. Mousa Moustafa Mousa, who, and his campaign members, took part in an honest and civilized national competition that demonstrated his great patriotic sense and excellent political performance.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
This great nation deserves our collective efforts, implanting hope, building the future, realizing its dreams, paving the way for the future that leads to the status that our country deserves and that is up to the sacrifices of its sons. Egypt will only be built and protected by its own sons. This is the prophecy of history that will be achieved by our citizens, chanting all the time:
Long live Egypt… Long live Egypt …long live Egypt.
Peace, Mercy and Blessings of Allah be Upon You.
Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.
Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).
Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.
Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.
His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.
Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.
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