President Hosni Mubarak on Friday was officially declared the winner of Egypt's first contested presidential elections. The vote, however, was marred by allegations of fraud and a lower than expected turnout of 23 percent. Mubarak won a new six-year term with 88.571 percent of the vote, the head of the elections commission, Mahmoud Marie, told reporters.
Mubarak's top opponent, Ayman Nour of the opposition Al-Ghad party, took 7.3 percent. Another main opposition candidate Noaman Gomaa of the Wafd Party won 2.8 percent.
On his part, Nour sent to the elections commission a list of alleged voting irregularities and demanded a repeat of the vote, citing the "grave violations that ... influenced the integrity of the election process," his deputy, Nagui el-Ghatrifi, told reporters.
© 2005 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
