Cairo, – President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi of Egpyt on Monday congratulated incumbent Russian leader Vladimir Putin on winning a re-election and expressed hope that bilateral ties would develop.
According to a statement, Al-Sisi wished Putin every success and expressed hope in “further developing and promoting cooperation on behalf of the two friendly nations.”
On Sunday, Russia held its presidential election.
About three-quarters of all voters backed the re-election of Putin, according to preliminary figures of the Russian Central Election Commission (CEC).
According to the statement, the Egyptian president wished the Russian people progress and prosperity.
Al-Sisi is not the only foreign leader who has congratulated Putin on his re-election.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev have already contacted the Russian leader and expressed their congratulations.
NAN reports that elections are scheduled to hold in Egpyt between March 26 and March 28.
ANA also reports that Egyptians abroad began voting on Friday, ten days before polls open at home in a presidential election that Al-Sisi is effectively guaranteed to win, but in which turnout could provide an indication of his popularity.
The former army chief’s only challenger, Mousa Mostafa Mousa, leads a party that had initially backed the Egyptian president’s bid for re-election.
Other opponents halted their campaigns citing intimidation by the authorities. One top challenger was jailed.
Al-Sisi in recent days has echoed calls he made in 2014, just before he was first voted into office, urging Egyptians to turn up to polling stations worldwide.
A year after toppling Egypt’s first competitively elected leader, Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, after mass protests against his rule, Sisi won nearly 97 per cent of the vote in 2014.
Fewer than half of eligible Egyptians voted in that election even though it was extended to three days.
State television showed hundreds of voters crowding outside the Egyptian embassies in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Other Egyptians abroad said they would have nothing to do with the vote.
