Egyptian election officials count ballots at a polling station in Cairo on Sunday., June 17. The official vote count was scheduled to be finished Monday.
The Muslim Brotherhood on Sunday claims that its candidate, Mohamed Morsi, has defeated foe Ahmed Shafik to become Egypt's president. A count by state media shows Morsi ahead, but with millions of votes still to be counted.
An Egyptian woman shows her ink-stained finger, marking that she voted in Cairo on Sunday.
Women line up to vote at a polling station in Cairo, Egypt, on the second and final day of the run-off presidential election.
Women line-up to cast their vote at a polling station in Cairo on Sunday.
Egyptian Christian Coptic men help a woman reach a polling station in the Cairo Coptic Shubra neighborhood on Saturday, June 16. Voters returned to the polls after Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court ruled Thursday that the Islamist-led Parliament must be immediately dissolved.
An full veiled Egyptian woman casts her vote at a polling station in Cairo on June 16.
Egyptians queue outside a polling station in Cairo.
An Egyptian Muslim Salafist shows his ink-stained finger after voting a polling station.
An Egyptian woman dips her finger in indelible ink after casting her ballot.
Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi, center, waves to his supporters as he arrives at a polling station to vote in the city of Zagazig.
An Egyptian woman casts her ballot in Cairo.
Egyptians check to see their names are listed before casting their vote at a polling station
Egyptian women dip their fingers in ink after voting at a polling station.
An elderly Egyptian man shows the indelible ink stain on his finger after voting on the first day of the second round of the historical presidential election at a polling station in the city of Zagazig.
Egyptians push a truck that was blocking the entrance of a polling station.
An Egyptian man smiles after casting his vote in Giza.
A veiled Egyptian woman looks for her name on the registered voters' list in the city of Zagazig.
An Egyptian Coptic Christian woman casts her vote in the Cairo Coptic neighborhood of Shubra.
Egyptian women cast their votes at a polling station.
An Egyptian woman holds her baby as she prepares to vote at a polling station in Cairo.
An Egyptian man shows off his little finger covered in indelible ink after casting his vote at a polling station in Cairo.
An Egyptian man on his donkey shows his ink-stained finger after casting his ballot.
Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Mursi casts his ballot at a polling station in the city of Zagazig.
An Egyptian woman holds up an ink-stained finger after casting her vote at a polling station in Cairo.
An elderly Egyptian man registers Saturday before voting in the city of Zagazig in an election that pits Ahmed Shafik, the last premier of ousted President Hosni Mubarak, against Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi.
Election officials and an Egyptian soldier direct voters during the second stage of runoff presidential elections at a polling station in Giza.
Egyptian Christian Coptic men check the voters' list Saturday outside a polling station in the Cairo Coptic neighborhood of Shubra.
Egyptians burn the likeness of presidential candidate and former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik in Cairo on Friday, the eve of the nation's presidential election.
A bus driver stops to wave in support of Egyptian protesters making their way to Tahrir Square on Thursday.
Egyptians pray in Tahrir Square on Thursday during a protest against presidential candidate Ahmed Shafik.
A protester stands on a barricade of barbed wire as Egyptian military police stand guard. Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that the Islamist-led parliament must be immediately dissolved.
An Egyptian boy waves his shoes as he joins supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood in a protest in Cairo's Tahrir Square against Mubarak-era prime minister and presidential candidate Ahmed Shafik after Egypt's top court rejected on Thursday a law barring him from standing in a tense presidential poll runoff.
Protestors gesture towards military police through a barricade of barbed wire during a protest against presidential candidate Ahmed Shafik outside the Supreme Constitutional Court on Thursday.
People walk past graffiti showing faces of ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, right; Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, second right; former Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Mussa, second left, and former prime minister and presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq, left, at Tahrir square.
A boy peers through barbed wire at Egyptian military police standing guard outside the Constitutional Court in Cairo on Thursday, June 14.
Egyptian women line up to cast their vote Saturday.
Former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, center, is seated before addressing a business conference in Cairo on Wednesday.
Egyptians read the front page of newspapers for sale outside of Al-Fatah Mosque in Cairo on Friday, May 25.
Ballots are counted by election officials in Alexandria as the country eagerly awaits the outcome Friday.
A supporter of presidential candidate Abdelmonen Abol Fotoh voices her opinions at Tahrir Square on Friday.
Supporters of various candidates debate outside Al-Fatah Mosque in Cairo on Friday.
Electoral officials monitor voting in Namul, a village north of Cairo, on Thursday, May 24, the second and final day of voting in Egypt's historic presidential election. Egypt is holding its first presidential election since last year's toppling of Hosni Mubarak, part of the wave of Arab Spring uprisings.
Egyptian women wait in line Thursday to cast their vote outside a polling station in Cairo. If no candidate gets a majority of the vote in the first round of voting, a second round will be held June 16-17.
An election worker checks the identification of a voter at a polling place Thursday in Namul as Egyptian soldiers stand guard.
A soldier stands watch in the Egyptian capital on the second day of voting. A pervasive fear exists that the powerful military, which has run the country since Mubarak's fall 16 months ago, could try to hijack the election.
An Egyptian man waits to cast his ballot Thursday north of Cairo. The vote is considered Egypt's first free and fair presidential election in modern history.
An Egyptian man drops off his ballot at a polling station Thursday in Cairo. The voting marks the first time Egypt has held a presidential election in which the results aren't known beforehand.
An Egyptian woman holds up an ink-stained finger after casting her ballot in Cairo on Wednesday, May 23, the first day of voting in the historic election.
A voter studies her ballot Wednesday in Cairo. Thirteen candidates are competing in the wide-open race, but two withdrew after ballots were printed.
Egyptian men fill out their ballots Wednesday in Cairo. Results of the first round of voting are not expected before the weekend.
An Egyptian man casts his ballot at a Cairo polling station. Some Egyptians told CNN that they waited up to four hours Wednesday to vote.
Egyptian men shield themselves from the hot sun outside a Cairo polling station Wednesday.
Egyptian men line up to cast their vote Wednesday in Cairo. Some 30,000 volunteers fanned out to ensure voting is fair, said organizers with the April 6 youth movement, which has campaigned for greater democracy in Egypt.
Egyptian men fill out their ballots at a Cairo polling place.
Presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahy, a leftist dark-horse contender, flashes a sign of victory as he waits to vote at a Cairo school.
Presidential candidate Abdelmonen Abol Fotoh, a moderate Islamist, casts his ballot Wednesday in Cairo.
An Egyptian Coptic nun drops her ballot at a Cairo polling station Wednesday.
Egyptian women wait outside a polling station in Cairo. Many Egyptians seem uncertain of their loyalties to any particular candidate.
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- Mohamed Morsi supporters celebrate his declaration of victory
- Egypt's military gives itself sweeping legislative and budgetary power
- The military council made the move at the conclusion of a two-day runoff
- Muslim Brotherhood's Morsi declares victory, citing an unofficial tally
Cairo (CNN) -- An Islamist backed by the Muslim Brotherhood declared victory as Egypt's first democratically elected president even as the country's military rulers issued a decree that virtually stripped the position of power.
The move by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces -- the military rulers in control since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak -- came Sunday at the conclusion of a two-day presidential runoff, adding to the political turmoil that raised questions about the stability of the fragile democracy.
Even with no constitution, no parliament and, possibly, no power, the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi declared victory late Sunday over Ahmed Shafik, who was Egypt's last prime minister in the waning days of Mubarak's regime.
Shafik, though, refused to concede, saying votes were to still to be tallied in his stronghold districts, including portions of Cairo.
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The military council will release details of an interim constitutional declaration Monday, said Maj. Mohamed Askar, the council's spokesman.
Under the declaration, Askar told CNN, the military council retains the power to make laws and budget decisions for the country until a new constitution can be written and a new parliament elected.
It is the latest political twist to arise during Egypt's historical elections, following a high court ruling just days before the runoff that invalidated parliament and paved the way for the military council to dissolve the legislative body.
While votes in Cairo, the country's largest population center, were still to be tallied, unofficial results released by the state-run Al-Ahram news website early Monday showed Morsi leading elsewhere in the country with 11.2 million votes, or 52.3%, compared with 10.3 million for Shafik.
In a victory speech, Morsi did not address the move by the military council.
Rather, he used the platform to try to allay fears that he would impose an Islamist state, promising "a civil, patriotic, democratic, constitutional and modern state."
"No one's rights will be left out of it, and no one will dominate over the other. The strong will not oppress the weak, and the weak's rights will not be forgotten because of irresponsibility," he said during a speech at his campaign headquarters in Cairo.
Even as Morsi's supporters gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square -- considered the heart of the February 2011 uprising that led to Mubarak's downfall -- to celebrate, concerns were being raised about what the military council's decree meant for the fledgling democracy.
"There is no parliament and there is no constitution," said Hamdi Nayim, who joined the celebration in the square.
"We need to make this constitution very quickly, and we need to fight with the army. ... We will not be satisfied if the army will control us and govern us here."
While the votes were counted, both sides traded allegations of voting irregularities at the hands of the other.
The Supreme Presidential Electoral Committee approved licenses for 53 organizations to observe the elections, including at least three international groups: the U.S.-based Carter Center, the South Africa-based Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa and the Arab Network for Monitoring of Elections.
Shafik's campaign filed more than 100 complaints, alleging "ballot rigging and stuffing."
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It also accused the Muslim Brotherhood of bribing voters with "large sums of money and food" to back Morsi, while intimidating and threatening violence against Shafik's supporters.
The Muslim Brotherhood, in a statement posted on its website, denied the allegations and accused Shafik's camp of bribing voters.
Both sides called for an investigation.
Questions, meanwhile, remain about what power the president will have after the election.
Under the military council's decree, according to Askar, Egypt's new constitution must be drawn up in the next three months.
The president will set the date for new parliamentary elections, and he will have the power to pardon, Askar said. He also will have the ability to appoint government officials and ambassadors, he said.
"The legislative power and the national budget remain in the hands of (the council) until the new parliament is elected," Askar said.
CNN's Salma Abdelaziz and Yasmin Amer and journalist Mohamed Fadel Fahmy contributed to this report.
