Ahead of elections, Egypt’s Sisi says he needs $2 trillion to build Egypt

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi said he needed $2 trillion to build Egypt.

The president’s remarks came only days ahead of the country’s presidential election scheduled for next week.

In an interview with Egyptian director, Sandra Nashaat, Al-Sisi said he needed $2 trillion to build Egypt. Critics have argued that this is an apparent reference to his intention to ask Egyptians to provide him with funds after he wins a second term, to prevent them from demanding an improvement in their situation or complain about the reductions in government subsidies.

Though Egyptians living abroad have already cast their votes, Al-Sisi has yet to issue and elections manifesto.

Read: Support the state by coming out to vote says Sisi

The polls will see Al-Sisi facing Musa Mustafa Musa, the leader of Al-Ghad liberal party.

Local and international rights groups condemned Egypt’s presidential elections last week, saying the race would neither be free nor fair.

Politicians say that the Egyptian authorities have manipulated the upcoming elections to guarantee a win for Al-Sisi, who now faces only an obscure politician who supports him as an adversary. But the country’s electoral commission has pledged to run the vote “according to principles of independence, transparency and objectivity.”

Egypt’s Sisi warns opponents as calls to boycott election build –
Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]