Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, the general who toppled Egypt's first freely elected leader, swept to victory in a presidential election, provisional results showed on Thursday, joining a long line of leaders drawn from the military.

But a lower than expected turnout figure raised questions about el-Sissi's credibility after his supporters had idolized him as a hero capable of delivering political and economic stability.

El-Sissi captured 93.3 percent of votes cast as counting nearly came to a close, judicial sources said. His only rival, leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, gained 3.0 percent while 3.7 percent of the votes were declared void.