CAIRO: Ex-army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi was declared Egypt’s president-elect Tuesday, winning 96.9 percent of the vote in an election nearly a year after he toppled president Muhammad Mursi, whose Islamist allies boycotted the polls.

Voting last week was extended to three days amid fears of low turnout, which election commission head Anwar Rashad Al-Asi said was 47.45 percent at a press conference announcing the results.

Sisi’s lopsided victory had been certain, with many lauding the retired field marshal as a hero for ending Mursi’s divisive rule in July.

Sisi’s only rival, Hamdeen Sabbahi, won just three percent of the vote.

With an economy hammered by years of unrest, Sisi urged Egyptians to “work to return security to this nation,” in a television address after the final results were declared.

“The future is a blank page, and it is in our hands to fill with what we want … bread, freedom, human dignity, social justice,” he said.