Despite the predictability of the Egyptian presidential election, the shockwaves caused by the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip have significantly disrupted the election campaign, to the point of completely overshadowing it. While all the country's televisions are tuned in to the images of devastation in the Palestinian enclave, the election, scheduled for December 10 to 12, was relegated to the background and appeared to many Egyptians to be a non-event.
President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi however is campaigning. His face is omnipresent in the capital, plastered on huge billboards along roads and bridges. However, since announcing his candidacy on October 2, the raïs has remained silent on domestic political issues, without even outlining his program for the next six years.
In this tailor-made presidential race, against three other candidates with no popular base and largely unknown to the public, el-Sissi has not appeared in any public meetings, has not taken part in any debates and has not given any television interviews. His only public speech was a staged event on Thursday, November 23, in Cairo stadium, entitled "Long live Egypt, a popular response in solidarity with Palestine." Officially, this event, which was broadcast on public television channels, was not a campaign rally, but with just a few days to go before the election, it had all the hallmarks of one.
It was a well-rehearsed show. At sunset, the president was greeted by a guard of honor made up of hundreds of volunteers mobilized to deliver the country's humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. In the background, rows of trucks loaded with metric tons of food and emergency supplies were parked, ready to begin their journey to the border amid a symphony of horn blasts. In the stands, thousands of excited spectators unfurled a gigantic banner bearing his image and simultaneously waved Palestinian flags intertwined with the tricolor Egyptian flag.
On the eve of the start of the truce between Hamas and Israel on November 23, the Egyptian president took the floor to emphasize the "intense efforts" made by his administration to prevent the escalation of the war. He reiterated his calls for a ceasefire, criticized the "killing machine" and "collective punishment" inflicted by Israel on the population of Gaza, as well as plans to force the population to move to Sinai. Claiming to be monitoring developments in the crisis "24 hours a day," el-Sissi wanted to project the image of a president above the fray, busy solving the urgent issue of the moment.
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