Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi wins another stage-managed election in Egypt

APOLITICIAN COULD not ask for a better outcome: to best three challengers with 89.6% of the vote and the highest turnout since the 1990s. In this case, it was literally what he asked for. The outcome was predetermined.On December 18th Egypt announced that Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, the army general who has ruled since 2014, had won a third term as president. Unlike the past two elections, which pit him against a single patsy, in this month’s ballot he faced three little-known challengers: voters had more choices, though still no good ones. His most prominent would-be opponent dropped out of the race in October after authorities arrested and harassed his supporters.