Guido Montani / EPA, file

Cardinals are preparing for the conclave that will select Pope Benedict XVI's successor. Hopefully it will go smoother than some other conclaves from centuries past.

Vatican watchers say the conclave about to be held in Rome could be one of the most contentious in years — but that's by modern standards.

Dust off the history books and go back a few hundred years and there are papal conclaves rife with international intrigue, royal rigging, even riots.

This conclave might last a couple weeks if the cardinals deadlock, but before the conclave process was instituted, papal elections could go on for months, even years.  

The election that started in 1268 lasted nearly three years, ending only when the townspeople of Viterbo locked up the cardinals, tore the roof off their palace, fed them nothing but bread and water and threatened to do worse.

The pope they finally elected decided a repeat would be unwise and instituted what are now known as conclaves, with the electors kept behind closed doors until they make a decision.

That cut down on the length of the elections, but they could still be quite colorful. Here are some of the more memorable conclaves from centuries past:

Off with their hats!
For much of the 14th century, the papacy resided in France, until Pope Gregory XI decided to relocate to Rome. When he died in 1378, the mostly French cardinals repaired to the Lateran Palace to choose his replacement.

"Rioting broke out in the city," said John O'Malley, author of "A History of the Popes: From Peter to the Present." "The Romans were afraid they might elect another French pope. They broke into the conclave."

The mob made it clear they meant business, said Frederic Baumgartner, author of "Behind Locked Doors: A History of the Papal Elections." One of their slogans? "Give us a Roman pope or your heads will be as red as your hats!"

The cardinals met them halfway, picking a non-Roman but Italian archbishop whom they hoped would meekly return with them to Avignon.

Pope Urban VI "turned out to be a disaster," Baumgartner said. "He had a very violent temper."

His behavior was so strange that "the cardinals began to wonder if they had elected a sane person," O'Malley said. They hightailed it out of Rome, declared they had been bullied into picking the wrong guy, and elected a Frenchman, Clement VII.

Small problem: Urban didn't go quietly. He created a whole new set of cardinals and thus was born the Great Schism, which divided the church until the Council of Pisa in 1409. That's when the French and Roman cardinals elected a third pope to run the show.

Naturally, the other two didn't step down, so there was more than one pope for more than a decade, until one finally agreed to resign and another died.

Popes, politics and poison?
When Pope Paul III died in 1549, the rules of the conclave went out the window as King Henry II of France and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V sought to control the outcome.

Hulton Archive via Getty Images, file

Pope Julius III was elected in 1550 after a conclave that featured bribery and rumors of poisoning.

"There was a great deal of skulduggery going on," Baumgartner said.

And not a lot of secrecy. Charles V boasted in a letter that he "will know when they urinate in this conclave," Baumgartner said.

Bribes were paid and there was even some insider trading: The cardinals' attendants supposedly cut deals with Roman bankers taking bets on who would be the next pope.

After a cardinal considered a top candidate fell deathly ill and withdrew, rumors that he had been poisoned spread. One witness reported the other cardinals were "terrified" and insisted only their own aides deliver meals, according to one account.

As the weeks dragged on, the situation got so out of control —and the conclave halls so smelly — that a reform committee was convened. A set of new rules ejected many outsiders, banned clandestine meetings and confined the cardinals to their cells at night.

Finally, after 72 days and 61 ballots, Pope Julius III was elected as a compromise candidate.

All in the family
The drama of the 1559 conclave began before the cardinals were sequestered. Pope Paul IV was a despised figure — he had driven all the prostitutes out of Rome — and when he died, all hell broke loose.

"Rioters in Rome attacked the palace of the Inquisition ... and toppled the statue of the pope that stood on the Capitol," Michael Walsh wrote in "The Conclave: A Sometimes Secret and Occasionally Bloody History of Papal Elections."

Hulton Archive via Getty Images, file

Pope Pius IV was elected after a four-month conclave in 1559 to replace Paul IV, who was so disliked that Rome rioters tore down his statue.

The conclave dragged on for four months. Among the stumbling blocks: One of the cardinals refused to vote for a strong candidate on the grounds that he had a son, Baumgartner said.

With no one running the papal state, chaos threatened to break out and "an immense amount of money was spent trying to keep order in the city, and the funds began to be exhausted," O'Malley said.

Finally, the cardinals coalesced around a compromise candidate, Pope Pius IV. He had fathered at least a couple of kids, but the cardinal who had objected to the previous candidate claimed not to know it, Baumgartner said.

"That's the last pope I know of who actually had children," he said.

Battle over the ballots
When the conclave of 1914 began, Europe was embroiled in World War I, but that wasn't the source of the tension that accompanied the election of Pope Benedict XV.

Hulton Archive via Getty Images, file

Pope Benedict XV was not happy when a Spanish cardinal suggested he might have broken the rules and voted for himself.

After four days, Benedict was chosen by the smallest possible margin, a precise two-thirds vote. The rules decreed that a cardinal could not vote for himself.

Spain's Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val, who was secretary of state under the just-deceased Pius X, was apparently a stickler for the rules and he demanded the ballots be checked to make sure Benedict had not cast one for himself.

"Benedict was deeply offended," Baumgartner said.

But as the recount showed, he was the duly elected pontiff.

According to NBC News Vatican expert George Weigel, Benedict archly told Merry del Val: "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone," quoting Psalm 118.

"Then Benedict washed him right out of the Curia," Baumgartner said.

Related:

'Jesus Christ with an MBA'? Cardinals' differing hopes for next pope

Canadian contender for pope: 'Others could do it better'

Europe's most Catholic country seeks modern Pope 

Slideshow: Kenyans vote in crucial election

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

Five years after more than 1,200 people were killed in election-related violence, Kenyans went to the polls in a nationwide election seen as the most important in the country's 50-year history since independence.

Launch slideshow

NAIROBI, Kenya - At least 15 people were killed in attacks by machete-wielding gangs on Monday as Kenyans lined-up to vote in a presidential election they hope will rebuild the nation's image after a disputed 2007 poll unleashed weeks of tribal bloodshed.

Just hours before the start of voting and with long queues across the east African country, at least nine security officers in Kenya's restive coastal region were hacked to death, and six attackers were also killed, regional police chief Aggrey Adoli said. The total toll had earlier been put at 17.

There were two separate attacks which senior police officers blamed on a separatist movement - which, if confirmed, would suggest different motives to those that caused the post-2007 vote ethnic killings and could limit their impact.

Officials and candidates have made impassioned appeals to avoid a repeat of the tribal rampages that erupted five years ago when disputes over the poll result fuelled clashes between tribal loyalists of rival candidates.

More than 1,200 people were killed, shattering Kenya's reputation as one of Africa's most stable democracies and bringing its economy to a standstill.

As in 2007, the race has come down to a high-stakes duel between two candidates, this time between Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, the loser in 2007 to outgoing President Mwai Kibaki. Both contenders will depend heavily on votes from tribal loyalists.

The United States and Western donors are worried about the stability of a nation that is an ally in the fight against militant Islam in the region but are also fretting what to do if the victor is Kenyatta, who faces charges by the International Criminal Court of orchestrating violence five years ago.

Provisional results could emerge hours after polls close at 5 p.m. local time (9 a.m. ET) although the election commission has seven days to announce the official outcome. Polls suggest the election could go to a run-off, provisionally set for April.

"If elected, we will be able to discharge our duties," said Kenyatta's running mate, William Ruto who also faces charges of crimes against humanity. "We shall cooperate with the court with a final intention of clearing our names."

'We want our own country'
One of the attacks on Monday took place outside Mombasa and another in Kilifi about 80 miles to the north. Senior police officers blamed them on a separatist movement, the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC), which wanted the national vote scrapped and a referendum on secession instead.

At the Kilifi site, Reuters footage showed a piece of paper on the ground with the words: "MRC. Coast is not Kenya. We don't want elections. We want our own country." But there was no formal claim and no independent confirmation of the assailants.

Even before the violence, many Kenyans were wary, notably in flashpoints last time. Some shopkeepers ran down stocks and some people in mixed tribal areas returned to their homelands.

Bernard Otundo, 36, queuing in Nairobi shortly before polls opened at 6 a.m. said he expected a peaceful vote.

"Some of us have been here as early as 2 a.m. this morning. I got here slightly after 3 a.m.," he said. "There have been a lot of awareness campaigns against violence and I don't think it will happen this time around, whatever the outcome."

Kenya's neighbors are watching nervously, after their economies felt the shockwaves when violence five years ago shut down trade routes running through east Africa's biggest economy. Some landlocked states have stockpiled fuel and other materials.

Adding to tension, the al Shabaab Islamist militant group battling Kenyan peacekeeping troops in Somalia, repeated calls on Nairobi to remove its forces, threatening retaliation. 

Related:

PhotoBlog: Kenya braces for elections

AFP - Getty Images file

Egyptian opposition leader and Nobel Prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei leaves a press conference in Cairo on Nov. 22. In a televised message on Thursday, he warned that the divisive referendum on a draft constitution raises "the specter of civil war."

Egypt's most prominent democracy advocate has pleaded to President Mohammed Morsi to delay an upcoming vote on a draft constitution to avoid the "specter of civil war." 

In an emotional televised message on Thursday, Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei told the Islamist leader: "Fear God, Dr. Morsi and postpone the referendum." 

His message comes two days before the Dec. 15 vote on the highly contentious constitution. Morsi and his Islamists allies support the charter while a wide spectrum of liberals, youth groups and others see both the process and the draft as flawed. 

A day earlier, Egypt's liberal and secular opposition said it would call off a boycott and instead back a "no" vote in the referendum as long as safeguards are in place for a fair vote.

The absence of a boycott could help ease confrontation on the streets.

But the danger that the vote will not be regarded as legitimate remained. On Thursday, the Carter Center announced that it would not deploy witnesses to observe the process. In a release, the center said it was unable to assess the referendum process as needed because of the late release of regulations for accrediting witnesses.

"The Carter Center hopes to witness the upcoming Peoples’ Assembly elections if the circumstances are conducive to meaningful observation and urges the Egyptian electoral authorities to take steps to ensure early accreditation of domestic and international election witnessing organizations," the release said.

Egyptian rights groups have warned of possible election fraud, and expressed concern that a state-run human rights council has taken charge of issuing monitoring permits, in the past obtained directly from the elections committee.

"The undersigned organizations are deeply concerned about the potential of rigging during or after the referendum," said the statement from a coalition of rights groups.

NBC News' Ayman Mohyeldin and experts in Cairo talk about the Egyptian draft constitution in Google+ Hangout

Photoblog: Egyptian Copts father in cave cathedral ahead of vote on constitution

Meanwhile, the army called off "unity" talks involving rival factions, dealing a blow to efforts to resolve a worsening political crisis over the referendum and rein in street protests that have turned violent. 

The latest convulsion in Egypt's transition to democracy was brought on by a decree last month from Morsi in which he awarded himself sweeping powers to push through the new constitution, a necessary prelude to parliamentary elections early next year. 

The move generated a huge controversy, dividing the Arab world's most populous state and bringing thousands of pro- and anti-government protesters onto the streets in the worst upheaval since the fall of Hosni Mubarak almost two years ago.

The unrest has so far claimed seven lives in clashes between the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and the opposition. The army has yet to use force to keep protesters away from the presidential palace, now ringed with tanks, barbed wire and concrete barricades.

Even as opposition hoped for a delay in the vote on Morsi's new basic law, some Egyptians abroad began voting on it at embassies.
 
The main opposition coalition says the draft constitution does not reflect the aspirations of all of Egypt's 83 million people because of provisions which could give Muslim clerics a role in shaping laws. It wants a new charter with more safeguards for minority rights, including for the 10 percent of Egyptians who are Christian. 

Morsi's supporters say the constitution is needed to continue the transition to democracy. Some deride their opponents as Mubarak-era "remnants" trying to cling to power.

"We will vote 'no'," opposition politician and former Arab League chief Amr Moussa told Reuters.

The opposition said that unless the referendum is held with full supervision by the judiciary, security guarantees and local and international monitoring, it would still call for a boycott. It also wants the vote held on one day rather than two.

Islamists have won parliamentary and presidential elections since the fall of Mubarak. They want the vote on the new constitution to go ahead and are confident it will pass, paving the way for them to win a new parliamentary election next year.

The opposition had argued that the chaotic protests and counter-protests of the last two weeks meant the referendum should be postponed. But large opposition rallies this week did not change Morsi's mind.

Reuters, The Associated Press and NBC News' Kari Huus contributed to this report.

More world stories from NBC News:

• Europe court: German was victim of CIA extraordinary rendition program
• 1,500 elephant tusks seized on way to China
• 'Who is my Mandela?' South Africans consider icon's place in a changing world
• North Korean progress on nuclear arms, long-range missiles rattle U.S. and allies
• Royal prank call: Duped nurse was found hanging, also had wrist injuries
• Circumcision to remain legal in Germany
• China marks 75th anniversary of 'Rape of Nanking'
• Pope Benedict sends his first tweet

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

A Libya anti-election protester was shot dead in the eastern town of Ajdabiya on Saturday when he tried to steal a ballot box from a polling station during the nation’s first free national poll in 60 years, officials say.

Ajdabiya has been a focus of protests against the election by eastern Libyans who say the vote designed to shake off the legacy of Moammar Gadhafi’s 40-year, one-man rule and elect a 200-member parliament is a sham and want more autonomy for their region. The east had been allotted only 60 seats in the assembly compared to 102 for the west.

An official said by telephone that the protester was killed in an exchange of fire with local people trying to prevent disruption of the election. Two people were wounded.

Elsewhere, Libyans’ joy over voting was tempered by boycott calls, the burning of ballots and attacks on eastern polling centers. The unrest exposed major fault lines in the oil-rich North African nation of 6 million people — the east-west divide and efforts by Islamists to assert power.

PhotoBlog: Libyans vote in first election in 60 years

Polls closed at 8 p.m. (2 p.m. ET) in most places, but delays in starting caused voting to go later in some cities, Al Jazeera reported. In Ajdabiya and other places where voting did not get under way until the afternoon, balloting will go as late as 7 a.m. Sunday, the Arab news agency reported.

Preliminary results are expected to be reported Sunday.

Despite troubles, overall turnout was high, the BBC reported.

Earlier: Tension as polls open in first Libyan election in 60 years

Few Libyans remember their last national vote in 1965, when no political parties were allowed, the BBC said, noting even fewer took part in their country's first parliamentary elections in February 1952, shortly after independence.

Mohammed Abed / AFP - Getty Images

Libyan protesters demanding greater representation shout slogans Saturday outside a polling station in the eastern city of Benghazi.

"I feel free at last. It's a feeling I cannot describe: Like a human being," Asmaddin Arifi told the BBC.

Voters flashed the V-for-victory sign as they entered polling centers, The Associated Press reported. Motorists honked their horns as they drove past. Others shouted "Allahu Akbar," or "God is Greater," from their car windows.

In the Mediterranean port city of Benghazi, cradle of the Libyan revolution, pro-autonomy activists Saturday seized electoral papers and ballot boxes. A BBC Arabic reporter said security forces did not intervene.

Libyan election worker killed in chopper crash day ahead of balloting

A day earlier outside Benghazi, gunfire struck a helicopter and killed an election commission worker aboard the flight that was carrying voting materials.

Armed men stopped voters casting their ballots in the port town of Ras Lanuf, the BBC reported.

But Nuri al-Abbar, the head of the election commission, told the BBC that 94 percent of polling stations across the country had opened normally.

The four major contenders in the Libyan race range from the Muslim Brotherhood-linked party and another Islamist coalition on one end of the spectrum to a secular-minded party led by a Western-educated former rebel prime minister on the other.

Despite the divisions and unrest, the prevailing mood was one of triumph.

"We are celebrating today and we want the whole world to celebrate with us," Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib said after he cast his ballot in Tripoli.

This article includes reporting by Reuters and The Associated Press.

Could sun-soaked Libya be the Mediterranean's next tourism hot spot? 

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Dozens killed as torrential rains, floods hit southern Russia
• US declares Afghanistan a 'major non-NATO ally'
• US says Syrian general's defection a 'crack in inner circle,'
• Did authors really find huge trove of previously undiscovered Caravaggios?
• 'Wasn't just one or two children': Ex-Argentine dictators jailed for baby thefts

Follow World News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

TRIPOLI/BENGHAZI, Libya -- Libyans began voting in their first free national election in 60 years on Saturday, a poll designed to shake off the legacy of Moammar Gadhafi but which risks being hijacked by autonomy demands in the east and unrest in the desert south.

Voters will choose a 200-member assembly which will elect a prime minister and cabinet before laying the ground for full parliamentary elections next year under a new constitution.

Candidates with Islamic agendas dominate the field of more than 3,700 hopefuls, suggesting Libya will be the next "Arab Spring" country after Egypt and Tunisia to see religious parties secure footholds in power after last year's uprisings.

But the credibility of the vote will be wrecked if armed militia with regional or tribal loyalties discourage voters from turning out, or if disputes over the outcome degenerate into pitched battles between rival factions.

Libyan election worker killed in chopper crash day ahead of balloting

In the oil-rich east, where there is a thriving autonomy movement, calls for a boycott and pre-election violence have cast a shadow over the vote. But in Tripoli, voters were jubilant.

Libyans flashed the "V" for victory sign as they entered the polling centers. Motorists honked their horns as they drove past to greet the voters lined outside. Others shouted "Allahu Akbar," or "God is Greater," from their car windows.

The election lines brought together Libya's women, men, youth and children accompanying their parents. There were women in black abayas, or black robes, bearded men, elderly men and women on wheelchairs or using canes to support themselves. Some voters arrived at polling centers with the Libyan red, green and black flags wrapped around their shoulders.

"Look at the lines. Everyone came of his and her own free will. I knew that day would come and Gadhafi would not be there forever," said Riyadh Al-Alagy, a 50-year-old civil servant in Tripoli. "He left us a nation with a distorted mind, a police state with no institutions. We want to start from zero," he said, as a woman came out of the polling center ululating and flashing the purple ink on one of her fingers. The ink is used to prevent multiple voting. 

Slideshow: Conflict in Libya

Goran Tomasevic / REUTERS

An uprising in Libya ousts dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

Launch slideshow

Inside a school being used as a polling station in central Tripoli, a few dozen women lined up. Some carried the new Libyan flag on their backs or wore jewelry in its red, green and black colors. Some had tears in their eyes.

"I am a Libyan citizen in free Libya," said Mahmud Mohammed Al-Bizamti, outside the polling station.

"I came today to be able to vote in a democratic way. Today is like a wedding for us," he said.

Civil war a possibility
The greatest threat comes from the eastern region around the city of Benghazi, cradle of the NATO-backed uprising that ousted Gadhafi nearly a year ago but which complains of neglect by the interim government in Tripoli in the west.

"There is no doubt there could be a civil war between us in the east and the west," Hamed al-Hassi, a former rebel who now heads the High Military Council of Cyrenaica, the name of the eastern region, told Reuters.

"The country will be in a state of paralysis because no one in the government is listening to us," said Hassi, whose group is charged with securing the east but has fallen out with the government over representation.

On Friday, local armed groups shut off half the North African country's oil exports to press their demands for greater representation in the new national assembly. At least three major oil exporting terminals were affected.

"The strikes will continue for 48 hours if the government does not respond positively to their requests," said a note to oil companies from shipping agents.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in a square in central Benghazi late on Friday, saying they would boycott the vote in protest at the fact that the east had been allotted only 60 seats in the assembly compared to 102 for the west.

In the latest attack on election authorities in the east, a helicopter carrying voting material had to make an emergency landing near Benghazi on Friday after being struck by anti-aircraft fire. One person on board was killed.

Could sun-soaked Libya be the Mediterranean's next tourism hot spot?

"There is no security in this country," complained Emad El-Sayih, deputy head of the High National Election Commission.

Concerns exist elsewhere. In the isolated southern area of Kufra in the Saharan desert, tribal clashes are so fierce that election observers will be unable to visit, and some question whether the vote can proceed in certain areas there.

'First things first'
In Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte, a former fishing village on the southern rim of the Mediterranean Sea, the mood ahead of the polls was restrained, with some saying they would not vote.

"They should take care of us first, look at our homes," said Abed Mohammed, a resident of District Two neighborhood which saw some of the heaviest fighting and where Gadhafi was believed to have hidden before being captured and killed.

Slideshow: Moammar Gadhafi through the years

Patrick Kovarik / AFP - Getty Images

A look at the life and times of Libya's mercurial and flamboyant leader.

Launch slideshow

"We are not against elections in the future, but first things first," he said.

Yet many Libyans are eager for a first taste of democracy and will be heading enthusiastically to the polls.

While analysts say it is hard to predict the political make-up of the new assembly, parties and candidates professing an attachment to Islamic values dominate and very few are running on an exclusively secular ticket.

The Justice and Construction offshoot of Libya's Muslim Brotherhood is tipped to do well, as is al-Watan, the party of former CIA detainee and Islamist insurgent Abdel Hakim Belhadj.

Libya begins battle to seize $20B in Gadhafi assets -- starting with London mansion

Parity rules for the new assembly mean there are many female candidates. Yet many of their campaign posters in Tripoli have been defaced, underlining the ambivalence felt by some in Libyan society about a greater female role in politics.

"Politics is a new field for men and women in Libya," said Lamia Busidra, 38, a leading candidate for the al-Wattan party in Benghazi. "The qualifications are there, women can do it, they just need the confidence in themselves to do it."

Early partial results after polls close at 8 p.m. (12 p.m. ET) on Saturday will give some guide to the make-up of the assembly but full preliminary results are not due until Monday.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• US declares Afghanistan a 'major non-NATO ally'
• US says Syrian general's defection a 'crack in inner circle,'
• Did authors really find huge trove of previously undiscovered Caravaggios?
• 'Wasn't just one or two children': Ex-Argentine dictators jailed for baby thefts
• First NATO trucks cross Pakistan border after 7-month closure
• Syria-gate? WikiLeaks' latest drop of secret files
• US probes UN shipment of high-tech gear to Iran, NKorea

Follow World News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

Updated at 11:09 p.m. ET: As Egyptians waited for the results of the presidential election, the ruling military council issued new rules that made clear the real power remains with the army.

The Muslim Brotherhood's party on Monday declared its candidate, Mohammed Morsi, had won the country's first free presidential election, defeating Ahmed Shafik, ousted president Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister.

But at Shafik's campaign headquarters, Ahmed Sarhan said: "I do not accept this, I will not file wrong numbers." However, another campaigner said: "I don't think we will make it." One woman campaigner at Shafik's headquarters was in tears.

Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images

Egyptian supporters celebrate the apparent victory of their presidential candidate Mohamed Morsi, in Tahrir Square, Cairo on Monday.

Hours earlier, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) issued a decree granting itself broad power over the future government, diminishing the authority of the president and seizing control of the process of writing a permanent constitution, The New York Times reported.

The move is the latest in a series of steps that the military has taken recently to hold on to power they had promised to hand over to elected civilians, the Times reported.

The military council's "constitutional declaration" -- issued under powers it took for itself after pushing aside Mubarak to appease street protests 16 months ago -- was a blow to democracy, said many who aired their grievances on social media, a favored weapon in the Arab Spring that ended Mubarak's 30-year rule.

'Outright military coup'
"Grave setback for democracy and revolution," tweeted former U.N. diplomat and Nobel peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei.

"SCAF retains legislative power, strips president of any authority over army and solidifies its control," he added.

Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

Egyptian election workers count votes at a polling station on June 17, in Cairo.

"The 'unconstitutional declaration' continues an outright military coup," tweeted Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh, a moderate Islamist knocked out in the first round of the presidential election last month. "We have a duty to confront it."

A Facebook page whose young activists helped launch the uprising mocked the army's order, noting Egypt would have a head of state with no control over his own armed forces: "It means the president is elected but has no power," one comment read.

Turnout, which was only 46 percent in the first round of the presidential vote, appeared to electoral officials to have been no higher for the decisive head-to-head contest.

Many of the 50 million eligible voters were dismayed by an unpalatable choice between a man seen as an heir to Mubarak and the nominee of a religious party committed to reversing liberal social traditions. Some cast a ballot against both men in protest.

In a victory speech at his campaign headquarters, Morsi clearly sought to assuage the fears of the large sector of Egyptians that the Brotherhood will try to impose stricter provisions of Islamic law.

"Thank God, who guided the people of Egypt to this right path, the path of freedom and democracy," the bearded, 60-year-old U.S.-educated engineer declared, promising to "be a president for all Egyptians".

He mentioned churches and Christians several times and hardly mentioned Islam or Muslims.

The order from Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the chairman to the Supreme Council, indicated that the army, which also controls swathes of Egypt's economy, has no intention of handing substantial power now to its old adversary, the Brotherhood.

"SCAF will carry legislative responsibilities ... until a new parliament is elected," the council's order said.

It raised a question of how, even if a civilian head of state is sworn in this week, Tantawi can claim to have met his own deadline of July 1 for relinquishing control -- a deadline the armed forces' major patron and paymaster the United States had stressed in recent days it was expecting him to respect.

Washington and Egypt's European allies, also major providers of aid to the most populous Arab state, had voiced concern when Tantawi, backed by a judicial ruling from a court appointed under Mubarak, dissolved the parliament elected in January in which the Brotherhood and hardline Islamists had a big majority.

'Dangerous days'
The Brotherhood has rejected the army's power to dissolve parliament and warned of "dangerous days."

But though some have compared events to those in Algeria 20 years ago, which ended in civil war between the military and Islamists, many doubt that the Brotherhood has an appetite for violence at present.

Many opponents of military rule have also complained that the Brotherhood has overreached itself in seeking both legislative and presidential power.

Egyptians massed in their millions against Mubarak in January last year in the hope that his removal would end poverty, corruption and police brutality. Many now seem tired of the social turmoil and political bickering that ensued.

Egypt's armed forces have built up massive wealth and commercial interests, helped since the 1970s by a close U.S. alliance which followed the decision of the most populous Arab state to make peace with Israel.

Many Egyptians say the army is just one wing of an entrenched security establishment that has resisted reform and oversight since Mubarak left and would wield influence long after the promised handover to an elected civilian.

"There is no doubt that the state in all its institutions -- judicial, military, interior, foreign and financial -- back Shafiq for president and are working to that end," said Hassan Nafaa, a politics professor who campaigned against Mubarak.

"It is very difficult to eradicate this spirit of Mubarak."

Reuters and the Associated Pres contributed to this report.

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Pro-bailout party prevails in Greek election
• In Egypt, little enthusiasm for presidential finalists
• 14 missing off Indonesia after 10-foot wave hits boat
• Questions swirl as Saudi Arabia buries crown prince
• Video: Obama, Putin meeting looms large for Syria

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

Mohammed Abed / AFP - Getty Images

Egyptian security forces help a woman after she voted at a polling station in Cairo on Sunday.

Updated at 9:16 p.m. ET: CAIRO - Egyptians anxiously waited for their first freely elected president on Sunday after two days of voting that was to be the culmination of their Arab Spring revolution but which many fear may now only compound political and economic uncertainty.

The Muslim Brotherhood said on Monday that its candidate, Mohammed Morsi, was holding on to a lead of 54 percent with 90 percent of the polling stations counted, Reuters reported. Morsi's rival, ex-military man Ahmed Shafiq had 46 percent of the votes counted, the Brotherhood official told Reuters.

Each campaign is allowed to have representatives in polling stations to watch the count.

In a country unused to free elections, it was unclear when the official final result would emerge. After a first round of voting last month, which knocked out several popular candidates, it took several hours.

On Monday, the new president, whether Morsi or Shafiq, will be told, along with the rest of the country, what powers he will have by the ruling generals. Military and legal sources told Reuters the military council would take back legislative powers for now from a new, Islamist-dominated parliament that it has dissolved following a court ruling voiding an earlier election.

Turnout, which was only 46 percent in the first round of the presidential vote, appeared to electoral officials to have been no higher for the decisive head-to-head contest. Many of the 50 million eligible voters were dismayed by an unpalatable choice between a man seen as an heir to Mubarak and the nominee of a religious party committed to reversing liberal social traditions. Some cast a ballot against both men in protest.

"I'll cross out both Morsi and Shafiq because neither deserves to be president," said Saleh Ashour, 40, a shopkeeper in the middle-class Cairo neighborhood of Dokki as he went to vote. "I want to make a statement by crossing out the two names.

"Just staying away is too passive."

Shafiq, 70, had promised he had heeded the lessons of the revolution 16 months ago and offered security and prosperity. Morsi, 60, tried to widen his appeal beyond the Brotherhood's committed and disciplined base by pledging to preserve a pluralist democracy and finally end a history of military rule.

In the second city, Alexandria, computer engineer Sameh Youssef, 30, was wary of Islamist rule but wanted to honor the dead of an uprising launched by frustrated young urbanites: "I will vote Morsi," he said. "Not because I like him but because I hate Shafiq. Between us and Shafiq there is blood."

In Old Cairo, however, 56-year-old physician Khalil Nagih echoed the sentiments of many, including Christians like himself, whose mistrust of the Brotherhood and desire for an end to a year of chaos outweighed anxiety about the army's role:

"I chose Shafiq because he has experience of administration and was an officer. He is a straight talker and he speaks to all communities. He says he'll solve our problems and I believe him. Morsi will bring a religious state and take Egypt backwards."

In Egypt vote, little enthusiasm for presidential finalists

Whoever wins, Egypt's political landscape is hazy beyond one clear landmark - the 20 or so senior commanders around Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, whose Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) claimed sovereign power after easing out their brother officer Mubarak to appease the millions on the streets.

In what opponents denounced as "coup", the SCAF dissolved parliament after judges, appointed under Mubarak, ruled on Thursday that a legislative election over the winter breached legal rules and would have to be re-run.

The Brotherhood and hardline Islamist allies dominated the new chamber, and risk losing seats in any new vote, having alienated many outside their core support base. Among failings they are accused of was the inability to form a consensus body to draw up the new constitution Egyptians are hoping for.

As presidential voting was ending, military and legal sources told Reuters that the military council would promulgate an amended constitutional decree on Monday returning to itself the legislative powers it handed to parliament this year.

"In the absence of parliament, legislative powers move back to the military council, which has been in charge of the country and will hand over presidential powers to the president soon," a military source told Reuters.

The decree would also define the new president's powers: "The country's head of state will have the power to appoint a prime minister and cabinet ministers," the military source said.

A lawyer who attended a meeting with the military council on Sunday said: "The presidential powers which the military council held until now will now shift to the new president."

The Brotherhood has rejected the army's power to dissolve parliament and warned of "dangerous days". But though some have compared events to those in Algeria 20 years which ended in civil war between the military and Islamists, many doubt that the Brotherhood has an appetite for violence at present.

Egyptians protest against old regime day before presidential election

Many opponents of military rule have also complained that the Brotherhood has overreached itself in seeking both legislative and presidential power, limiting its broader appeal.

Egyptians massed in their millions against Mubarak in January last year in the hope that his removal would end poverty, corruption and police brutality. Many now seem tired of the social turmoil and political bickering that ensued.

"Egypt writes the closing chapter of the Arab Spring," read a headline on Sunday in independent newspaper al-Watan, which said the election offers a "choice between a military man who aborted the revolution and a Muslim Brother who wasted it."

Monitors said they had seen only minor and scattered breaches of election rules by Sunday morning but not the kind of systematic fraud that tainted elections under Mubarak, despite mutual accusations of irregularities by the rival camps.

A win for Shafiq may prompt street protests by the Islamists and some of the disillusioned urban youths who made Cairo's Tahrir Square their battleground last year. Should Morsi prevail, he may be frustrated by an uncooperative military elite, for all the generals' pledges to cede power by July 1.

Egypt's armed forces have built up massive wealth and commercial interests, helped since the 1970s by a close U.S. alliance which followed the decision of the most populous Arab state to make peace with Israel.

Many Egyptians say the army is just one wing of an entrenched security establishment that has resisted reform and oversight since Mubarak left and would wield influence long after the promised handover to an elected civilian.

"There is no doubt that the state in all its institutions - judicial, military, interior, foreign and financial - back Shafiq for president and are working to that end," said Hassan Nafaa, a politics professor who campaigned against Mubarak.

"It is very difficult to eradicate this spirit of Mubarak."

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Pro-bailout party prevails in Greek election
• In Egypt, little enthusiasm for presidential finalists
• 14 missing off Indonesia after 10-foot wave hits boat
• Questions swirl as Saudi Arabia buries crown prince
• Video: Obama, Putin meeting looms large for Syria

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

Updated at 11:15 a.m. ET: A dying man came "for my children," a college student said he finally felt "like a citizen of this country," and an undecided voter was just happy to take part in "a historic" moment.

Egyptians turned out in droves Wednesday to take part in the country's first-ever democratic election of its leader.

Fifteen months after the ouster of Hosni Mubarak during the Arab Spring uprising, BBC News reported lines began growing at many polling stations shortly after they opened at 8 a.m. local time (2 a.m. ET).

"It's a very big day. This is a real great moment for the Egyptians to change,” a woman waiting to vote in Cairo told the BBC. Another in the line was asked how long she’d been waiting to vote; she laughed and said, "30 years."

Yasmina Muslemany / NBC News

Law student Shaimaa Magdy (left), said she was voting for leftist Hamdeen Sabahy because "I want someone new, with new ideas, I want him to care about the youth, to care about the economy and the poor." Iman Moustafa backed the same candidate saying he was "honest in his words and actions; he was jailed a lot and he worked a lot against injustice."

President Jimmy Carter is in the country as part of an international delegation monitoring the election, the UPI news service reported.

"Egyptians cheer "Jimmy Carter! Jimmy Carter! Welcome to ‪#Egypt‬!" When former President comes out of polling station," BBC correspondent Lyse Doucet said in a tweet.

A police officer in Cairo said voters had been asking him all morning "Who do you like?" But he said "I tell them, 'You must decide,'" the BBC reported on Twitter.

Medhat Ibrahim lined up to vote in a poor district south of Cairo despite having cancer.

"I can die in a matter of months, so I came for my children, so they can live," he tearfully told The Associated Press.

More photos: Egyptians turn out in droves to vote in historic election

Mubarak ruled Egypt for some 30 years – earning the nickname “Pharoah” – and elections during that time were thinly attended and any result was a foregone conclusion.

The election will determine who will take over from generals who have overseen a transition marred by violence, protests and political deadlock. They were due to formally hand over power by July 1.

Yasmina Muslemany / NBC News

Accountant Hossam Mohamed Diab (left) said he was voting for Islamist candidate Mohamed Mursi, saying he was "well educated" and has "a lot of life experience" "Hopefully he can build consensus between the people's assembly and the ruling authorities," Diab said. Khaled Ahmed backed leftist Hamdeen Sabahy, saying "he's one of us, he's one of us who was in the square [Tahrir Square during anti-Mubarak protests]."

The BBC reported that a police sergeant died after being shot during clashes between rival supporters in Rawdh al-Faraj Tuesday evening and said in a tweet that 10 people had been injured in election-related incidents, citing the ambulance authority.

Egypt's elections: A struggle between secularism and political Islam

Some voters held out hope the change to a democracy would bring profound change.

"We want to live better, like human beings," Ibrahim, a 58-year-old government employee, told the AP.

“Our vote will make Egypt's voice in the Arab world ring loud and clear," Saad Abed Raboh, a civil servant in his mid-50s voting in Alexandria, told Reuters. "For 30 years Egypt's vote was muted, but now it will be heard because Egyptians will choose their president."

Photoblog: Egypt prepares for the post-Mubarak presidential era

And Ahmed Ali, a student of pharmaceutical studies in Alexandria, Egypt's second city, told Reuters that “the experience [of voting] is quite new and makes me feel like a citizen of this country."

But others simply came along to take part in a momentous occasion.

"I will vote today, no matter what, it is a historic thing to do, although I don't really know who I will vote for," Mahmoud Morsy, 23, told Reuters. He then said he would probably pick the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate, Mohamed Mursi.

Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters

Egyptian presidential candidate Amr Moussa (second right) waits in line before casting his vote at a polling station in Cairo Wednesday.

The wide-open election pits Islamists against men who served under deposed leader Hosni Mubarak.

NYT: Egypt votes in historic election as crime wave, not revolution, becomes main topic 

Voters were blitzed by three weeks of official campaigning, which ended on Sunday, and Egypt held its first U.S.-style televised presidential debate. Newspapers carried interviews and campaign ads. Banners and posters festoon the streets.

Egypt's first televised presidential debate thrills viewers

Although official campaigning was over, candidates made a final push to get out the vote. Half a dozen minibuses plastered with "Yes to Amr Moussa" – the former Arab League chief bidding for office – offered free rides to polling stations.

None of the 12 candidates is expected to get more than half the votes and win outright in the first round on Wednesday and Thursday, and a run-off between the top two is likely in June.

Read more on Egypt from NBC correspondents

Whoever wins faces a huge task to deliver changes that Egyptians expect to relieve a grim economic outlook. The military that was a pillar of Mubarak's rule is likely to remain a powerful political force for years.

The army, whose senior ranks control extensive commercial interests, insists it does not want to hang onto power.

"With these elections, we will have completed the last step in the transitional period," General Mohamed el-Assar told a news conference on the eve of voting.

The West, long wary of Islamists, and Israel, worried about its 33-year-old peace treaty with Egypt, are watching to see if proponents of political Islam add to their gains after sweeping most seats in a parliamentary vote that ended in January.

Many Gulf states are concerned about who will lead the regional heavyweight after their long-time ally Mubarak was ousted. Their conservative monarchies have so far emerged from a wave of Arab uprisings relatively unscathed.

The Brotherhood's Mursi, trying to allay such worries, pledged in a final rally on Sunday that "we will not export our revolution to anyone.”

Video: A new role for women in post-Mubarak Egypt

Mursi was pitched into the race at the last minute after the Brotherhood's first-choice candidate was ruled out. He may lack charisma, but he can rely on the Brotherhood's vote machine.

Among the voters Wednesday, Mahmoud Ahmed told NBC News that he backed Mursi "because his project is Islamic." "I hope that someone comes and governs us with the book of God. We won't find justice except in the book," Ahmed said.

Mursi's rivals include Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh, an Islamist who has drawn support ranging from liberals to hardline Salafi Muslims; Moussa, who was foreign minister before moving to the Arab League and has strong name recognition; and Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak's last prime minister, who like his former boss, once commanded the air force.

Nabeya Ahmed told NBC News he backed Moussa. "They say he's good and he knows politics well," Ahmed said.

A late surge helped Hamdeen Sabahy, a leftist inspired by Gamal Abdel Nasser, whose "Free Officers" overthrew King Farouk in 1952 and set up the system that has put military men in the presidency for the past 60 years.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• 'Nearly empty': A rare glimpse inside Syria rebel stronghold
• Terror suspect's eye color? UK's flying cameras know
• Analysis: How Egypt's election can transform the Middle East
• Portraits of a queen: When the monarch becomes the subject
• Tokyo Sky Tree takes root as world's second-tallest structure
• Robotic 'fish' takes to seas to catch pollution sooner

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world