This is insane!
Mo Salah is so popular in Egypt that a huge number of voters actively went to the ballot this week, crossed out the candidates and wrote in the name of Liverpool’s no.11 instead!
The Economist (not a source we usually reference!) explains the story:
“Even so it was not the commanding victory Mr Sisi wanted. A state newspaper, Al-Ahram, said that 25m people voted, about 42% of the electorate. That is markedly less than the 47% who voted in 2014. More than 1m Egyptians spoiled their ballots, nearly twice the number who chose Mr Moussa. (Some crossed out both candidates and wrote in Mohamed Salah, a popular Egyptian footballer.) By Friday afternoon state media had stopped reporting on the ruined ballots, and credited Mr Sisi with winning 97% of the valid vote.”
So it seems Mo Salah, who obviously wasn’t running for presidency, got more votes than the losing candidate.
That’s like Harry Kane getting more votes than Jeremy Corbyn…
Footballer George Weah is the current president of Liberia, so perhaps in later life Salah could look into politics… It sounds like he’ll have a fair amount of popular support!
Salah’s incredible Egyptian appeal helps Liverpool, too. We now have a whole country watching every game and supporting us domestically and in Europe.
We should really be organising a marquee friendly in Cairo’s national stadium…
It would be brilliant!