CAIRO
The main support bloc of ousted president Mohamed Morsi said Tuesday it will not recognize former army chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi as Egypt's president.
"We will not recognize al-Sisi's election as Egypt's president," Magdi Qorqor, spokesman for the National Alliance for the Defense of Legitimacy, told Anadolu Agency.
He termed the election as "invalid", citing that Morsi – who was ousted by the military last July – had not resigned.
"The election results had been manipulated in light of the low turnout seen by all Egyptians," he said, going on to call for protests on Friday "to demand al-Sisi's ouster".
Egypt's electoral commission has declared al-Sisi as Egypt's president after receiving some 23.7 million valid votes in last week's election.
Commission head Judge Anwar al-Asi said that 25,578,223 out of nearly 54 million eligible voters had cast their ballots in the polls with a voter turnout of 47.45 percent.
Al-Sisi secured 23,780,104 out of 24,537,615 valid votes or nearly 97 percent of the total, al-Asi announced at a press conference in Cairo.
Al-Sisi's sole competitor, leftist candidate Hamdeen Sabahi, received a meager 757,511 votes, representing 3.9 percent of the total valid votes.
Al-Sisi had led the army to unseat Morsi – Egypt's first freely elected president – after massive protests against his one-year rule.
While supporters describe Morsi's ouster as a "military coup", opponents term it a "military-backed revolution".
Ever since his overthrow, Morsi's supporters have been staging almost daily protests to demand his reinstatement.
By Hussein Qabani
www.aa.com.tr/en
