Victory secured for Sissi

With nearly all the votes counted, Sissi finished with more than 96 percent of the vote, state television reported on Thursday. Sissi's sole opponent, leftist Hamdeen Sabahi, garnered less than 4 percent of the vote. Around 4 percent of votes were also ruled invalid.

"I respect Egyptians' choice and admit my loss," Sabahi told reporters on Thusrday. "We have lost a round, but I am sure we'll ultimately win in fulfilling these people's dreams."

Although victory was never in doubt for Sissi, the low turnout was no doubt unexpected after his strong push to get out the vote. The Sissi campaign had hoped high voter participation would lend credibility to the 59-year-old retired field marshall, who has been criticized for cracking down heavily on dissenters.

Poor turnout after boycott

The election was boycotted by the Muslim Brotherhood and youth activists. The Brotherhood backs former President Mohammed Morsi, who was overthrown in a Sissi-orchestrated coup last July, while pro-democracy activists accuse Sissi of being an autocrat in the mold of longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak.

The government has cracked down harshly on Morsi's supporters over the past year. Some 1,400 people have died in street clashes with security forces and more than 15,000 Islamist and other activists have been jailed.

In the wake of poor turnout during on Monday and Tuesday, authorities extended voting for a third day. Only 46 percent of Egypt's 54 million eligible voters are reported to have gone to the polls, fewer the 52 percent who turned out two years ago when Morsi was elected. Sissi had called on 40 million Egyptians to go to cast their ballots.

A European Union observer team said on Thursday that the vote was conducted "in line with the law," but added it regretted the lack of participation by some "stakeholders" - a likely reference to the Brotherhood and activists who boycotted the election.

Official election results are due out June 5, but they are not expected to change much due to Sissi's wide margin of victory.

Victory hailed

Hundreds of Sissi's supporters took to the streets on Wednesday after his victory to celebrate, waving Egyptian flags, setting off fireworks and honking car horns.

Interim President Adly Mansour insisted that legitimacy had been achieved in the vote, saying that the result showed "a broad consensus" for the political road map set by the military after Morsi's ouster. He also said the election was free of any "serious misconduct."

The Brotherhood, meanwhile, hailed what it called a successful boycott.

"The great Egyptian people have given a new slap to the military coup's roadmap and … written the death certificate of the military coup," said the group's political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party.

dr/pfd (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)