Turnout was light in many parts of Cairo. Reuters, citing an official in the National Election Authority, said about 13.5 percent of 59 million eligible voters had cast ballots on Monday.

In Tanta, posters for Mr. Sisi were plastered all over the main thoroughfares of the city, which is famed for its mashabek, a sticky yellow swirl of sugar and flour, and its magnificent Sufi mosque. It was hard to find a single image depicting his challenger, Moussa Moustapha Moussa, an obscure politician drafted at the last minute to prevent the embarrassment of a one-horse race.

Mr. Moussa, who has ties to the security services, accused the United States this week of fomenting the Arab Spring with the goal of destabilizing the Middle East. “This huge U.S. project was implemented by the team of Condoleezza Rice,” he told Russia’s Sputnik news agency, referring to the former secretary of state.

But many voters in Tanta failed to remember Mr. Moussa’s name, much less register their intention to vote for him.

And the effort to increase turnout with promises of food seemed to be working. Behind a phalanx of soldiers and scowling intelligence officials, about 50 yards from the stall where chits for food baskets were being handed out, a presiding officer reported a healthy turnout.

In some respects, the vote felt familiar to Egyptians, who endured manipulated elections during Mr. Mubarak’s rule from 1981 to 2011. His government also paid people to vote.

A spokesman for the Sisi campaign did not respond to queries about its electoral tactics. But the ease with which Mr. Sisi has steamrollered Egypt’s fractured opposition is a product of even harsher repression.