Egypt’s presidential election will be held in December rather than in the spring of 2024, as the Constitution allows, a timetable shortened by economic factors in the country trapped between inflation and depreciation, according to analysts.
Egyptian voters will cast ballots on December 10, 11, and 12, according to the president of the Electoral Commission, Judge Walid Hassan Hamza. Additionally, “the final results with the name of the elected president will be published in the official gazette on December 18.
Judge Hamza also provided a precise calendar for the election, saying candidacies must be submitted in October, the election campaign will run from November 9th to November 29th, and Egyptian expatriates will vote from December 1st to December 3rd.
The election was originally scheduled for the spring, the maximum period allowed by the Constitution, but many observers have been predicting for weeks that it will be held in December, owing to economic considerations in a country that is frequently forced to devalue its currency, which risks exacerbating social unrest.
This presidential election, the third in which current president Abdel Fattah al-Sissi could compete, is already shaping up to be a tense affair for the head of state, who came to power by deposing the Mohamed Morsi in 2013 before being elected very comfortably in 2014 and then re-elected in 2018 against a single candidate who claimed to be his supporter.
Mr. Sissi has not yet officially announced his candidacy, but is expected to do so soon.
He will be running at a time when purchasing power is steadily eroding in this country of 105 million inhabitants: inflation is running at 40%, the 50% devaluation in recent months has pushed up the price of goods – virtually all of which are imported into Egypt and the recent bonuses and increases announced by the President for civil servants and pensioners have had little effect.
