CAIRO: In Cairo’s El-Gamaleya neighbourhood where Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sisi grew up, residents reeling from rising prices plan to support the incumbent in this month’s presidential election despite economic woes.
“I still love him and my trust in him doesn’t have a limit,” said Mohammed el Aswad, 46, the owner of a small sock factory next to Sisi’s childhood home.
Like Aswad, many residents of the working class neighbourhood in the heart of the capital’s old city say they will vote to reelect the president in polls set for March 26-28.
The outcome of the election appears set in stone.
Sisi, 63, does not face any serious competition, as most of the rival candidates either withdrew or were arrested. His only opponent, Moussa Mostafa Moussa, was relatively unknown to the general public before announcing his candidacy in late January.
For the first 20 years of his life, former defence minister Sisi lived with his family on the top floor of a four-storey building in El-Gamaleya, before moving to the newer Nasr City district on the capital’s eastern outskirts. Here, like many other neighbourhoods across the capital, banners supporting the president stretch across streets, hang down the facades of buildings, and are tied to the top of street lights.
The ubiquitous signs of support come despite the pain felt by locals in the district, which now houses small-scale industries, due to an economic reform
package introduced by the president after he took power in 2014. — AFP
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