CAIRO, May 29 -- Egypt's presidential candidate and leftist leader Hamdeen Sabahy on Thursday admitted his defeat in the elections that concluded Wednesday, losing to his sole rival, ex-military chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi.

"I admit losing the presidential race," Sabahy told a press conference. "We show respect for the will of the people."

Initial tally showed a landslide victory for Sisi, who won more than 90 percent of votes in the three-day presidential polls.

Sabahy said there were some violations during the vote but they would not affect the final results.

"I will not accept any official post in the executive authority, " Sabahy said, noting that he will join the opposition as " partners of the nation."

The leftist leader lamented that "the same result could be reached without violations," referring to what he described as biased media, businessmen and state-run institutions.

Sabahy said although his campaign was exposed to "many harassments" during the vote, he would accept the final result of the polls despite "the blemishes."

Initial estimates put the turnout at about 47 percent out of the 54 million eligible voters.

No official results are expected before Sunday and the final result will be announced no later than June 5.

Prior to the elections, Sisi was already expected to make an easy win over his leftist opponent as the ex-military chief is riding on a major wave of popularity in the most populous Arab state of 94 million people. The military strongman won 94.5 percent of the votes cast by over 300,000 overseas Egyptians in 124 countries last week.

Kicking off on Monday, the poll was originally scheduled for two days, but the election commission decided to extend the voting for an extra day to give a greater opportunity for voter participation.

In the 2012 presidential election, the voter turnout exceeded 50 percent. Sabahy came third in the first round of that vote.

Morsi, Egypt's first freely-elected president, was overthrown by then-military chief Sisi in early July last year following mass protests against the Muslim Brotherhood-oriented president.

The move increased Sisi's popularity so much that he took off his military uniform to run for president.