Mubarak wins fifth term but most voters stay away

Although the current President's win was widely expected - he received 88.6 per cent of the votes cast - the low turnout figure was a surprise. Mamdouh Marei, the chairman of the Presidential Election Commission, announced that just 23 per cent of the 32 million registered voters took part.

The low participation reflected widespread scepticism among Egyptians over its government's claims that the election opened the door to greater democratic reform - and apathy over a vote that Mr Mubarak was certain to win.

Mr Marei, who is the top judge on Egypt's highest court, said the vote was clean and that allegations of violations came out of "over-enthusiasm in a nascent experiment that will be the cornerstone in the construction of democracy".

Mr Mubarak's main rival, Ayman Nour of the liberal Ghad (Tomorrow) Party, won 7.6 per cent of the vote and the Wafd Party candidate, Noaman Gomaa, was third with 2.9 per cent.

Rights groups have complained of widespread voting abuses in the elections that were held on Wednesday, in which Mubarak faced nine rivals. On Thursday, Mr Nour demanded fresh elections because of the voting abuse allegations, but the commission - which reform-minded judges have accused of being dominated by the government - rejected the request.

Mr Gomaa said his party would put together a list of the election violations it witnessed and present them to the commission. But, speaking to al-Jazeera television, he acknowledged the violations were not enough to affect Mr Mubarak's victory.

When Mr Mubarak, 77, who has ruled Egypt for 24 years, won his fourth six-year term by referendum in 1999, the government said 79 per cent of registered voters took part.