Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will serve his third and final term as Egypt's president following his re-election. / Photo: AFP

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has won a new six-year term with 89.6% of the vote, the election authority announced on Monday.

Turnout reached an "unprecedented" 66.8% of voters, authority head Hazem Badawy said.

Over 39 million had cast their ballots for Sisi, a former army chief who has ruled the most populous Arab country for a decade.

The president was up against three relative unknowns in the vote held between December 10 and 12.

Final term

Runner-up Hazem Omar, who leads the Republican People's Party, received 4.5% of the vote.

Next came Farid Zahran, leader of the left-leaning Egyptian Social Democratic Party, and Abdel-Sanad Yamama from the Wafd, a century-old but relatively marginal party.

Sisi is now set to serve his third – and, according to the constitution, final – term in office, starting in April.

Sisi's win comes as no surprise, despite Egypt being gripped by its worst-ever economic crisis and high tensions around the Israel-Hamas war in neighbouring Gaza.

Tough economic times

The currency has plunged and annual inflation is running at 36.4%, sending up prices of some food staples by the week, hurting household budgets.

Even before the current economic crisis, about two-thirds of Egypt's population of nearly 106 million were living on or below the poverty line.

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AFP