Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the former Egyptian army chief, is on course for a sweeping victory in the country's presidential election, early provisional results suggested.

Sisi won 96.2 percent of about 21 million votes cast, state television reported early on Thursday, with the ballots from 312 of 352 counting stations tallied.

Hamdeen Sabahi, the only other candidate, received 3.8 percent of the votes counted.

Voter turnout was low, at 44.4 percent, despite the government declaring the second day of voting a national holiday, and extending the election for a third day.

Fireworks were set off in Cairo when results began to emerge. Sisi's supporters waved Egyptian flags and sounded car horns on the crowded streets of the capital.

About 1,000 people gathered in Tahrir Square, the symbolic heart of a popular uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak in 2011, and raised hopes of a democracy free of influence from the military.

"We are joyful because Sisi got so many votes, the results will come after an hour, we are here to celebrate," Kawther Mohamed, who went to Tahrir with her daughters, told the Reuters news agency.

The turnout of 44.4 percent was lower than the election that brought Mohamed Morsi to power in 2012.

Sisi had hoped for a strong turnout to legitimize the takeover he led last summer against Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The decision by the election commission to add another day of voting raised complaints that authorities were manipulating the vote in Sisi's favour.

US-based Democracy International, and election observer, said the extension "raises more questions about the independence of the election commission, the impartiality of the government, and the integrity of Egypt's electoral process".

PHOTO CAPTION

Ballots sitting on a table as polling station officials count the votes at the end of voting in the presidential election in Cairo on May 28, 2014.

Aljazeera