Al-Sisi to choose 'fighters' to bring about 'security and stability'

Egypt’s newly elected President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi said he will choose “fighters” to bring about what he called “security and stability “in Egypt, following the election which has been referred to as a “comical sitcom”.

Al-Sisi told Kuwait’s Al-Jareeda newspaper today, in his first statement after winning the presidential elections, “Egypt will not go backwards.” He added: “We will choose fighters to achieve our priorities in security and stability, without excluding others; our arms are open for everyone to build the nation.”

The leader of the coup said: “We know that there are those who are afraid to return to the past; that will not happen. There is no going back. We’ll go forward. We have no time for our differences or to engage in conflict. We will open our doors for everyone to participate in nation-building.”

He said he seeks “real national partnership that satisfies all Egyptians and is working to calm the young and contain them.”

The initial results of the Egyptian presidential elections, announced yesterday gave victory to Al-Sisi, the commander of the military coup which toppled the first elected civilian president, Mohamed Morsi.

Al-Sisi received 93.3 per cent of the votes, while his only opponent Hamdeen Sabahi came third with three per cent of the votes. Four per cent of the votes were deemed invalid.