Egypt’s choice: President Sisi, or a man who adores him

THE election in Egypt, which begins on March 26th, will have two candidates. One is Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, the president, an ex-military man who seized power in a coup in 2013. The other is Moussa Mustafa Moussa, whose party fawningly supports Mr Sisi and who refuses to take part in a debate with the president because that would be disrespectful (see ). The election, in other words, is a farce.Why, then, should Egyptians bother to vote? Mr Sisi’s big claim is that he has restored order. In 2011 mass protests led to the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, a dreary despot. The next year Egyptians elected Muhammad Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, who tried to grab dictatorial powers and put his Islamist chums in charge of practically everything. He failed only because then-General Sisi toppled him. All this upheaval sent investors and tourists fleeing. Mr Sisi, who won an election in 2014, deserves credit for taking painful steps to stabilise the economy, such as cutting subsidies and devaluing the Egyptian pound. Without his firm hand, his supporters say, Egypt might have turned out like war-torn Iraq, Syria or Libya.