Egypt’s rushed election shows Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi is nervous

POLITICIANScampaign in poetry, as the saying goes, even if they govern in prose. Rarely do they write verses about suffering. Last month Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, Egypt’s military dictator, tried out a bleak slogan for his upcoming election. “If the price of the nation’s progress and prosperity is hunger and thirst, then let us not eat or drink,” he said. With food prices up 72% over the past year, many voters are doing just that: , indeed.On September 25th Egypt decided to hold presidential elections earlier than planned. Instead of voting in the spring, Egyptians will go to the polls on December 10th. The change was not unexpected. Mr Sisi is keen to get the election out of the way before he makes painful economic decisions such as devaluing the currency. In a democracy, this would be sound politics: beggaring voters is not a ticket to victory.