[11] Incumbent president el-Sisi won the 2018 elections with over 97% of the vote, and faced only nominal opposition (a pro-government supporter, Moussa Mostafa Moussa) after several opposition figures were prevented from participating following the military arrest of Sami Anan,[12][13][14][15] threats made to Ahmed Shafik with old corruption charges and an alleged sex tape,[16][17][18] and the withdrawal of Khaled Ali and Mohamed Anwar El-Sadat due to the overwhelming obstacles presented, and violations committed, by the elections committee.

[19][20][21] Since 2022 Egypt had been in the midst of an economic crisis, including record high inflation causing the Egyptian pound to lose nearly half its value from March 2022 to January 2023[22] and a shortage of foreign currency, the latter of which driven in part by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Government spending on projects without a return on investment, such as the New Administrative Capital, were also blamed for contributing,[24] in addition to a persistent trade deficit and continuing influence of the military in economic affairs.

[49] Citizen Lab and Google's Threat Analysis Group indicated that the attempts began as early as May 2023 and continued through August, using various methods, leading Apple to issue security updates on 21 September to patch the vulnerabilities exploited by the spyware.

Egyptian media portrayed the election as a "great victory for the will of the people," who were reportedly motivated to vote because of the country's "state of stability and security."