CAIRO, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's incumbent President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi won the presidential election with 97.08 percent of valid votes and will run the most popular Arab state for a second four-year term.
Born in Cairo on Nov. 19, 1954, Sisi, whose father was a famous furniture and antique maker in Gamaleya neighborhood, was graduated from the Egyptian Military Academy in 1977.
He served as the information and security chief at the Defense Ministry general secretariat, military attaché in Saudi Arabia, chief-of-staff and then commander of Egypt's Northern Military Zone in 2008.
In 2011, He was appointed the head of Military Intelligence, becoming one of the youngest members of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
He was appointed as defense minister by the Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in August 2012. He then ousted the Islamic leader in July 2013, in response to mass protests against Morsi's year-long rule.
Sisi, who isn't affiliated to any political party, has assumed his office as a president in June 2014, winning 96.91 percent of votes in the 2014 presidential election, with turnout was about 47 percent of the 54 million eligible voters.
Sisi's rule has brought some stability to the country, but critics say his popularity was a little impacted by tough economic reforms that have hit the people's living conditions. His supporters, on the other hand, defended the economic measures as needed to keep the country stable as it faces security challenges including attacks by Islamic State militants in North Sinai region.
Sisi inherited an ailing economy since Egypt's economic growth slowed after the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak due to political instability and relevant security challenges that caused tourists and investors fled.
He took some serious decisions that previous governments were reluctant to apply at the economic level.
To boost economy, Egypt started in late 2016 a strict three-year economic reform program that included currency devaluation, subsidy cuts and tax hikes to reduce the budget deficit.
Egypt's reform plan has been encouraged by a 12-billion-dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund, half of which has already been delivered to Egypt.
In a recent interview, Sisi said that "the economic reforms were absolutely necessary even though they are harsh and have caused dissatisfaction among Egyptians."
Economic experts see some grounds for hope: the country's GDP growth increased to 5.3 pct in December 2017 from a low of 2.1 pct in 2012/2013 fiscal year, according to the central bank.
Egypt used to struggle to get enough fuel to run its power stations, but will reach self-sufficiency by the end of 2019 after the inauguration of several gas fields in the Mediterranean and the Nile Delta.
Sisi was also blamed for spending considerable funds on the construction of the national mega and infrastructure projects that will produce little immediate return, to which Sisi has replied: "I'm building a future for the coming generations."
Sisi launched series of large infrastructure projects to put Egypt back to work and to lure more foreign direct investments.
He has begun building several new desert cities, including dredging a new branch of the Suez Canal, a 45 U.S. billion dollars new administrative capital east of Cairo, reclamation of one million feddans as well as mega fish plantation projects.
Many of Sisi's national projects will be located in Sinai, as he noted that "the development of Sinai is a matter of national security for Egypt, and it will require a great deal of funding to improve the living conditions of the residents."
The government has recently stepped up efforts to develop and defend Sinai. A military operation began on Feb. 9 to clear the area of terrorist groups and provide security for its citizens has killed nearly 163 terrorists.
While opening an anti-terrorism center in the Sinai Peninsula last month, Sisi, in a rare appearance in a military uniform, has asked the army to use "all brute force necessary" to defeat Islamic militants who threaten the stability he always seeks to fulfill.
Egypt's North Sinai province has been the center of terrorist attacks that killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since the ouster of president Morsi.
The Sinai-based branch of the Islamic State (IS) regional terrorist group claimed responsibility for most of the terror operations in Egypt over the past few years.
Fighting against terror was a window for Sisi to diversify Egypt's ties with big international powers. After the U.S. military aid was suspended and then partly cut, Sisi tended to bolster strong relations with European countries as well as China and Russia.
