Egypt since the 2011 uprising.

Here are some key events from more than three years of turmoil and transition in Egypt:

— Feb. 11, 2011: Mubarak steps down after 18 days of nationwide protests against his nearly 30-year reign. The military takes over, dissolving parliament and suspending the constitution after the Jan. 25 uprising, which left hundreds of protesters dead in clashes with security forces.

— Nov. 28, 2011-Feb. 15, 2012: The Muslim Brotherhood wins nearly half the seats in multi-stage elections for the first post-Mubarak parliament, while ultraconservative Salafi Islamists take another quarter. The remainder goes to liberal, independent and secular politicians.

— June 18, 2012: The Muslim Brotherhood's candidate Mohammed Morsi defeats Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak's last prime minister, with 51.7 percent of the vote in a runoff presidential election, taking office on June 30 as Egypt's first freely elected leader.

— Aug. 12, 2012: Morsi removes the defense minister and military chief, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, and replaces him with Lt. Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

— Nov. 22, 2012: Morsi unilaterally decrees greater powers for himself, giving his decisions immunity from judicial review and barring the courts from dissolving an assembly charged with drafting a new constitution. The move sparks days of protests.

— Dec. 15 - Dec. 22, 2012: Egyptians approve a constitution drafted and hastily passed by Islamists amid protests and walk-outs by other groups, with 63.8 percent voting in favor but a low turnout of 32.9 percent.

— Mar. 12, 2013: Egypt rejects an offer of a $750 million rescue loan from the IMF. In the coming months, fuel and electricity shortages stoke discontent, while a campaign called Tamarod, or "Rebel," gathers signatures calling for Morsi's removal and early presidential elections.

— June 30, 2013: On Morsi's anniversary in office, millions of Egyptians begin days of massive demonstrations demanding his resignation. The military gives him 48 hours to reach an agreement with his opponents, but he vows to remain in office.

— July 3, 2013: El-Sissi announces Morsi's removal, installing Constitutional Court Chief Justice Adly Mansour as interim president. Tens of thousands of Morsi supporters camp out in two Cairo sit-ins demanding his return.

— July 8, 2013: Egyptian soldiers fire on Morsi supporters protesting outside a military facility in Cairo, killing over 50. Each side blames the other for the violence. Mansour sets a timeline for amending the constitution and electing a new president and parliament by mid-February. The Brotherhood boycotts the process.

— Aug. 14, 2013: More than 600 people, mostly Morsi supporters, are killed when police clear the two pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo. Islamists retaliate by torching government buildings, churches and police stations. Hundreds more die in subsequent violence.

— Aug. 19, 2013: Suspected Islamic militants kill 25 policemen in the Sinai Peninsula. Militant attacks escalate in Sinai over the following months, with shootings, bombings and suicide attacks against security officials and troops.

— Sept. 23, 2013: An Egyptian court orders the Brotherhood banned and its assets confiscated.

— Oct. 9, 2013: The U.S. suspends delivery of tanks, helicopters and fighter jets to Egypt in a show of disapproval over the anti-Brotherhood crackdown.

— Nov. 4, 2013: Morsi appears for the first time since his ouster, at the opening of his trial on charges of inciting violence, the first of several court cases against him. Some charges against him carry the death penalty.

— Dec. 24, 2013: A car bomb rips through a security headquarters in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura, killing 16 people, almost all policemen, in the deadliest attack since Morsi's ouster. The Sinai-based militant group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis claimed responsibility.

— Dec. 25, 2013: The government designates the Brotherhood a terrorist organization.

— Jan. 14, 2014: Egyptians vote in favor of amendments to the constitution adopted under Morsi. The referendum sees 98.1 percent of voters approve the measure. Turnout is less than 39 percent.

— Jan. 25: Clashes between security forces and protesters on the third anniversary of the 2011 uprising leave at least 49 dead. Estimates of the total death toll from political violence since Morsi's overthrow now run into the thousands.

— Mar. 24: An Egyptian court sentences to death nearly 530 suspected Morsi supporters over a deadly attack on a police station, capping a swift, two-day mass trial in which defense attorneys were not allowed to present their case. The death sentences are reduced to 37 after review.

— Mar. 26: Ending months of anticipation, el-Sissi announces that he has resigned from the military and will run for president.

— April 28: An Egyptian court sentences to death the Muslim Brotherhood's spiritual leader and 682 other people over violence and the killing of policemen. The verdict, which can be appealed, sparks an international outcry.

— May 3: A three-week campaigning period begins. El-Sissi doesn't appear in public rallies, instead holding meetings and giving pre-recorded television interviews. His rival, leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, rallies around Egypt and has support from some youth groups.

— May 26-27: Egyptians vote in a presidential election, with el-Sissi widely expected to win by a landslide.

— May 28: Voting in Egypt's presidential election is extended for a third day amid unexpectedly low turnout.

— May 29:Egypt's Sisi wins presidential election with more than 90 percent of vote.

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the general who toppled Egypt's first freely elected leader, took more than 90 percent of the vote in a presidential election, provisional results showed on Thursday, as he joined a long line of leaders drawn from the military.

But a lower-than-expected turnout figure raised questions about the credibility of a man idolized by his supporters as a hero who can deliver political and economic stability.

Sisi won 93.3 percent of votes cast, judicial sources said, as counting neared its conclusion after three days of voting. His only rival, leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, gained 3 percent while 3.7 percent of votes were declared void.

Turnout was 44.4 percent of Egypt's 54 million voters, judicial sources said, less than the 40 million votes, or 80 percent of the electorate, that Sisi had called for last week and also less than the 52 percent turnout Mursi won in 2012.

"We are now divided with the turnout," said Tarek Awad, 27 and unemployed, celebrating Sisi's victory in Tahrir on Thursday morning. "If about half of voters wanted Sisi, the other half don't want him. What about them?"

The stock market .EGX30, which fell 2.3 percent on Wednesday as some players said the turnout was a disappointment, was down a further 0.9 percent by late morning on Thursday. On the black market, the Egyptian pound weakened slightly.

Mohamed El Sewedy, chairman of the Federation of Egyptian Industries, said, however: "The business community is very happy about the results. My friends and I have a lot of hope.”

Others saw the stability offered by Sisi as important.

"Everybody just wants some form of stability against which you can decide what to invest. When there's stability it makes risk assessment much easier," said Angus Blair, chairman of business and economic forecasting think-tank Signet.

Most Egyptian newspapers celebrated the result, with state-run Al-Akhbar calling it "a day of hope for all Egyptians".

Fireworks erupted in Cairo to celebrate Sisi's victory late on Wednesday. His supporters waved Egyptian flags and sounded car horns as celebrations lasted through the early hours of the morning.

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

As Egyptians traveled to work, there were only a handful of Sisi supporters left in Tahrir.

Sisi, who ousted Mursi last year after mass protests against his rule, is seen by supporters as a strong figure who can end the turmoil that has convulsed Egypt for three years since the revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak after 30 years in power.

Critics fear Sisi will become another autocrat who will preserve the army's interests and quash hopes of democracy and reform.

Sisi enjoys the backing of the powerful armed forces and the Interior Ministry, as well many politicians and former Mubarak officials now making a comeback.

"This is the best possible result. He is from the army, so he knows Egypt," Yeshiva Hassan, a vendor selling radios on a downtown Cairo street, said.

TOUGH MEASURES

But the former military intelligence chief may not have the popular mandate to take the tough measures needed to restore healthy economic growth, ease poverty and unemployment, and end costly energy subsidies in the most populous Arab nation.

In a country polarized since the revolt against Mubarak, many Egyptians said voters had stayed at home due to political apathy, opposition to another military man becoming president, discontent at suppression of freedoms among liberal youth, and calls for a boycott by Islamists.

Horsham Moans, Sabahi's campaign manager, questioned the legitimacy of the vote, saying there had been violations.

"Until yesterday turnout was much lower than what was announced today. Did the percentage suddenly reach 46 percent?"

An editorial in state-run Al-Ah ram newspaper called for "a serious and real pause" to review the past three days' events.

"The behavior and style of some almost corrupted the image and contributed to the impression that what happened did not follow the conditions of a proper democratic process or fair competition", it said.

ARMY INTERESTS

New York-based Human Rights Watch (HR) said the security crackdown after Mursi's ouster had created a repressive environment that undermined the fairness of the election.

“The mass arrests of thousands of political dissidents, whether Islamist or secular, has all but shut down the political arena and stripped these elections of real meaning,” Sarah Leah Whit son, TRW's Middle East and North Africa director, said.

Some Egyptians, exhausted after years of upheaval, have concluded that Sisi is a strong figure who can bring calm, even though past leaders from the military mismanaged the country.

Despite an official campaign to bring out more voters, Egyptians, many opposed to Sisi, gave various reasons for their lack of enthusiasm.

Young secular activists, including those who backed Mursi's ouster, had become disillusioned with Sisi after many were rounded up in the crackdown that also restricted protests.

Since he gave a series of television interviews, many Egyptians feel Sisi has not spelled out a clear vision of how he would tackle Egypt's challenges, instead making a general call for people to work hard and be patient.

He has presented vague plans to remedy the economy, suffering from corruption, high unemployment, and a widening budget deficit aggravated by fuel subsidies that could cost nearly $19 billion in the next fiscal year.

Sisi also faces the formidable challenge of crushing an Islamist armed insurgency and eliminating any threat from the Brotherhood, which, as the country's best-organized political force, had won every national vote held after Mubarak's fall.

The Muslim Brotherhood, a movement loyal to Mursi and outlawed as a terrorist group by the military, has rejected the election, describing it as an extension of the army takeover.

The Brotherhood, believed to have about one million members in a country of 85 million, has been devastated by one of the toughest crackdowns in its history. Its top leaders, including Mursi, are on trial and could face the death penalty. The movement seemed inspired by the low turnout in this week's poll.

"Sisi and those with him have to admit that Egypt is against them and the Dr. Mohamed Mursi is their president and the president of all Egyptians,” an Islamist alliance that includes the Brotherhood said in a statement.