Egypt’s president is sworn in for a third 6-year term

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt was sworn in for a third six-year term on Tuesday (Apr. 2) after being re-elected in a December vote in which he faced no serious challengers.

El-Sissi took the oath of office before parliament, which convened in the new administrative capital in the desert outside Cairo.

Egypt which has recently reached a deal with the IMF, grapples with an economic crisis, and has seen its dollar revenues from Suez Canal decline compared to last year after attacks on ships by Yemen's Houthis in the Red Sea.

"Between the evil terrorist attempts at home, the sudden global crises abroad, and the fierce international and regional wars around us, we are forced to confront challenges that may not have been encountered on this scale and severity throughout Egypt’s modern history," El-Sissi told lawmakers.

He won 89.6% of the vote in the December election, with turnout of 66.8% more than 67 million registered voters. He ran against three virtually unknown opponents.

El-Sissi overthrew democratically elected Islamist Mohamed Morsi in 2013 and proceeded to win his first election the following year.

He was reelected in 2018. A year later, constitutional amendments, passed in a general referendum, added two years to el-Sissi’s second term, and allowed him to run for a third, six-year term.