Jordan Welcomes Re-Election of Egyptian President As Both Nations Face War

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

AMMAN/CAIRO (Worthy News) – Jordan’s King Abdullah welcomed Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s re-election Tuesday at a time when both nations face war in their neighborhood.

The Jordan News Agency, or PETRA, said the king called the Egyptian leader to congratulate him following recent elections, adding that they also spoke about “the Palestinian cause.”

Both countries made clear they do not accept an influx of refugees from Gaza, where Israeli forces attacked since October 7 when Hamas fighters killed some 1,200 people in Israel.

Jordan was the second Arab country, after Egypt, to sign a peace accord with Israel in 1994, but the Hamas-Israel war has raised cross-border tensions. They demand that Israel ensure that the humanitarian crisis is solved within Gaza and the West Bank, the other Palestinian enclave on Israel’s borders.

“That is a red line because I think that is the plan by certain of the usual suspects to try and create de facto issues on the ground. No refugees in Jordan, no refugees in Egypt,” King Abdullah said recently.

King Abdullah called Egyptian President El- after he secured a third, six-year term in office. The National Election Authority said Monday that El-Sissi received 89.6% of the vote despite running against three other candidates.

People in the Arab world’s most populous country expressed indifference about the December 10-12 election, saying the result was a “foregone conclusion.” Turnout was 66.8 percent of more than 67 million registered voters, election officials said.

VOTING HIGHEST IN HISTORY

“The voting percentage is the highest in the history of Egypt,” declared Hazem Badawy, the election commission chief, who announced the official results in a televised news conference.

The vote was overshadowed by the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza on Egypt’s eastern border, which has threatened to expand into broader regional turmoil.

Egyptians voted “to express their rejection of this inhumane war,” el-Sissi said in televised comments. Since the outbreak of the armed conflict, Cairo accused Israel of trying to push Palestinians from Gaza into Egypt and quash Palestinian demands for statehood.

The North African nation is also amid an economic crisis, with monthly inflation surging above 30 percent, data showed.

Over the past 22 months, the Egyptian pound has lost half of its value against the dollar, with one-third of the country’s 105 million people already living in poverty, according to official figures.

Despite being seen as a key Western ally in the region, el-Sissi has faced international criticism over Egypt’s human rights record and harsh crackdown on dissent.

He was first elected in 2014 and reelected in 2018 for a second four-year term. Constitutional amendments, passed in a referendum in 2019, added two years to his second term. That allowed him to run again and potentially remain president till 2030 potentially.

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