Biden's election victory draws mixed reactions in Egypt

News of Democratic nominee Joe Biden's projected win over Donald Trump in the US presidential election drew mixed reactions in Egypt. While Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was quick to congratulate the president elect Saturday, the situation throughout the country is more complex.

Pro-democracy activists, clearly euphoric and relieved, celebrated Biden's election victory while government supporters expressed their dismay, reiterating Trump's baseless claims of vote fraud. Many Egyptians (from both camps) had closely followed the US election on social media or on satellite TV in the belief that its outcome could determine their own fate. 

When the news broke Nov. 7 that Biden had won, Egyptian social media platforms erupted in cheers; many activists are hoping that a Biden presidency will spell an easing of the repression Egyptians have endured over the last several years. Amr Magdi, a Human Rights Watch researcher, suggested that the release of more than 400 political prisoners in Egypt in recent days may possibly have been linked to the change in US administration 

"Finally some oxygen!" tweeted Gamal Eid, a rights advocate and founder/chairperson of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information who was clearly relieved to see the end of the Trump era. The outgoing US president had largely turned a blind eye to human rights violations in Egypt and the Middle East region and had even jokingly described Sisi as "my favorite dictator."