Trump congratulates Sisi on re-election
Washington: US President Donald Trump has congratulated Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi in a phone call for his landslide win in the country's presidential election, said the White House.
"President Trump congratulated President Al Sisi on his re-election," said the White House in a statement on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported.
The two leaders also reaffirmed the strategic partnership between the US and Egypt, according to the statement.
The US State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a separate statement on Monday that Washington will continue to work to advance its shared objectives with Cairo, while voicing its concerns on Egypt's basic rights and freedoms.
"We will continue to encourage a broadening of opportunities for political participation for Egyptians, and emphasize the importance of the protection of human rights and the vital role of civil society in Egypt," said Nauert.
Sisi made an overwhelming victory in the election, winning 97.08 per cent of the valid votes, the official results showed on Monday. The total turnout was 41.05 per cent.
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ECI website faces outage amid vote counting in Jharkhand, Maharashtra
New Delhi: Election Commission of India’s official results website ‘results.eci.gov.in’ has reportedly experienced a technical outage on Saturday morning, at a time when India closely watches the high-stakes Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly poll battle.
Visitors visiting the site were met with non-functional links and a generic “counting in progress” message, leaving them without updated election data. The ECI has not issued an official explanation for the disruption.
Vote counting, which began at 8 a.m. with postal ballots, is underway for 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra and 81 in Jharkhand. Early trends suggest a lead for the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra, currently ahead in 141 seats, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is leading in 96. In Jharkhand, the BJP-led NDA is ahead in 43 seats, while the ruling JMM-led alliance is trailing with leads in 33 constituencies.
Additionally, counting is underway for 48 assembly bypolls across 13 states and two parliamentary seats, Nanded in Maharashtra and Wayanad in Kerala.
