Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the general who toppled Egypt's first democratically-elected government, also toppled Miley Cyrus to win the readers' choice of TIME's 2013 Person Of The Year.
Until very recently, Cyrus was leading the poll with 29.1% of the votes. However, with Egypt accounting for the largest number of votes on the TIME.com poll, Sisi won with 449,596 of 1.9 million votes.
Cyrus even lost out to the Turkish prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, who received 356,771 votes (20.8%). She came in third with 279,300 votes (16.3%).
It wasn't for lack of trying though. Cyrus mobilized her 15 million Twitter followers to vote for her, and retweeted her legion of fans' pleas to make her #TimePOY.
Twitter reactions to the poll were varied. There was confusion in Egypt about whether Sisi was TIME's Person Of The Year, chosen by the magazine's editors, and to be announced on Wednesday, Dec. 11.
I think the @Time should publish in Arabic a statement telling our Egyptian local media the difference between #TimePOY and internet polls
Zeinobia
@Zeinobia
I think the @Time should publish in Arabic a statement telling our Egyptian local media the difference between #TimePOY and internet polls
and Egyptian news websites like ONA are claiming that General El Sisi won the #TimePOY publishing a fake @TIme magazine cover for him
Zeinobia
@Zeinobia
and Egyptian news websites like ONA are claiming that General El Sisi won the #TimePOY publishing a fake @TIme magazine cover for him
Today 2 people told me Time picked Sisi to be "man of the year".
The Big Pharaoh
@TheBigPharaoh
Today 2 people told me Time picked Sisi to be "man of the year".
What message do you send about your country if you think Sisi - a murderer and defender of virginity tests - is person of the year? #Egypt
Patrick Galey
@patrickgaley
What message do you send about your country if you think Sisi - a murderer and defender of virginity tests - is person of the year? #Egypt
Long overdue recognition for his humanitarian work in India: RT @TIME Egypt’s General el-Sisi wins #TIMEPOY poll http://t.co/fB1aA4EUAX
Tom Gara
@tomgara
Long overdue recognition for his humanitarian work in India: RT @TIME Egypt’s General el-Sisi wins #TIMEPOY poll http://t.co/fB1aA4EUAX
TIME's POY reader poll often has bizarre results. Last year, Kim Jong Un came in first, in what a TIME story called the "completely unscientific Person of the Year reader poll." It was a close fight between Kim Jong, Mohamed Morsi, Malala Yousafzai and Psy.
This year there were other close calls and big wins according to the TIME report. Malala Yousafzai (59%) beat Angelina Jolie (41%). Edward Snowden (82%) beat Barack Obama (18%).
This tweet pretty much sums it up.
The fact that one of either Sisi, Erdogan or Miley Cyrus is going to be TIME's Person of the Year really shows what kind of year it's been.
Galal
@GalalAmrG
The fact that one of either Sisi, Erdogan or Miley Cyrus is going to be TIME's Person of the Year really shows what kind of year it's been.