Al Jazeera quotes Rafik Hariri Center Nonresident Senior Fellow H.A. Hellyer on the mounting pressure facing Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi following the bombing of a Russian passenger plane in the Sinai:
“Political space in Egypt isn’t particularly open, and Sisi does continue to have a genuine popular base. Opposition to him is not insignificant, but it is markedly fragmented,” Hellyer told Al Jazeera, noting the low parliamentary vote turnout could actually benefit Sisi in the long run by presenting the optics that his presidential mandate – Sisi clinched more than 90 percent of the vote in 2014 with 44 percent turnout – is stronger than parliament’s.
“Certainly if there is a clash between Sisi and the parliament on any issue, one imagines that the issue of mandate will come up.”