Post-election coverage, SIS threatens to summon foreign journalists
As we noted above, press and political freedom continued to dominate headlines on Egypt internationally. Beyond coverage of Al Masry Al Youm’s fine, there’s a wave of stories critical of the state of political freedom in Egypt. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board writes that President Abdel Fattah El Sisi winning the election by c. 92% of the vote “says all you need to know about the contest. Yet Mr. Sisi … should use his second term to allow more moderate voices to emerge as a channel for political dissent even as he stresses economic growth and crushing an Islamist insurgency in the Sinai.”
Activists tell The Telegraph’s Raf Sanchez the election saw Sisi consolidate his power. They see “little chance of another mass show of people power like in Tahrir Square anytime soon.” One college professor suggested that political space will open up again once Egypt’s security situation is stable. HA Hellyer almost repeats the same point in his piece for the Atlantic. Egypt desks at foreign papers must be paid by the word.