A court ordered the detention of the runner-up in Egypt’s presidential elections, Ayman Nour, and his five fellow defendants as their trial on forgery charges approached its end today.

President Hosni Mubarak was officially declared the victor of Egypt’s first contested presidential elections tonight, but the vote was marred by a lower than expected turnout of 23%.

EGYPTIAN President Hosni Mubarak’s most prominent rival yesterday asked for a rerun of presidential elections on the grounds that abuses made the Wednesday vote invalid.

Officials are counting votes today after Egypt’s first contested presidential election, a landmark ballot seen as a test of the government’s commitment to reform and America's push for greater democracy across the Middle East.

EGYPTIANS go to the polls tomorrow in a ballot which could mark the beginning of political change in the North African state.

Egypt’s leading opposition candidate for president went on trial today as hundreds of his supporters swarmed the court building denouncing the charges against him as a government attempt to eliminate him as a rival.

Egyptian opposition leader Ayman Nour was charged with forging signatures to secure approval for his political party today – a case that has drawn international criticism and created friction between Egypt and Washington.

Egyptian opposition leader and presidential hopeful Ayman Nour stepped out of Cairo’s central security headquarters today and was whisked to the shoulders of his supporters, free on bail in a case that angered Washington and undermined Egypt’s talk of democratic reform.