Mubarak wins with 88% of vote

2005-09-09 21:49

Cairo - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has won his country's first contested presidential election with 88.5% of the vote, according to official results announced on Friday by the electoral commission.

Commission chair Mamduh Marai told reporters that incumbent Mubarak's win was based on a turnout of 23% of registered voters.

Mubarak, 77, has been in power since 1981, when he succeeded the assassinated Anwar Sadat.

Since then, he has been elected through referendums in which Egyptians could say only yes or no to a single parliament-nominated candidate.

Pro-government newspapers on Friday trumpeted President Hosni Mubarak's re-election victory after preliminary results showed he had swept Egypt's first contested race for the presidency.

'Birth of democracy in Egypt'

The opposition press, meanwhile, highlighted alleged irregularities that marred the vote, but still hailed the poll as the birth of democracy in Egypt.

"The people have woken up and they are not going to go back to sleep," wrote the editor of the opposition Wafd newspaper.

State-guided newspapers glossed over the 30% turnout in Wednesday's polls, focusing instead on the magnitude of Mubarak's margin.

Preliminary results leaked from the electoral commission gave the president about 79% of the vote.

His main challengers, Ayman Nour and Noaman Gomaa, received about 12% and 6%, respectively.

- AFP