Egyptians to vote in landmark election

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

However, a ban on independent monitors has fuelled concerns about transparency.

In the Nile Delta town of Tanta opposition supporters banged drums and waved orange flags, but many people were so unused to real election campaigns that they thought the march was the circus come to town.

Still, the rally led by opposition candidate Ayman Nour was a brief, boisterous example of the dramatic political changes sweeping Egypt.

As campaigning for the country's first contested presidential election drew to a close, voters swung between apathy and a cautious hope that change is in the air.

"It's about time there was more than one candidate. We need anything new," said Ahmed Sherif, a 36-year-old high school teacher who drove 95 kilometres to Tanta to hear his first speech by a presidential aspirant.

For more than a half century, Egyptians have gotten no closer to choosing their president than voting "yes" or "no" for the sole candidate in referendums stage-managed by the country's military-led regime.

Tomorrow, however, President Hosni Mubarak faces nine challengers at least two with a real chance of gaining votes although he is expected easily to win his fifth six-year term.

Mr Mubarak's surprise decision earlier this year to open up the presidential race came amid increasing domestic agitation to reform this politically and economically stagnant country, demands buttressed by a push from Egypt's US ally for reforms across the Middle East.

As 32 million voters mull their choice for an election whose outcome is already known, the main battle was being fought over the monitoring of Egypt's close to 10,000 polling stations.

Most observers argue Mr Mubarak still has the means of granting himself the score he chooses, but a determined group of more than 30 civil society organisations were training monitors until the last minute.

The country's judges who are tasked with supervising the polling process have warned that they would not endorse the results of the vote if the electoral commission did not grant them more independence.

They have asked for the hundreds of independent monitors to be allowed inside polling stations, a request approved by the judiciary but rejected by the electoral commission.

While few think the new dance with democracy will result in Mr Mubarak being removed, many believe the door to change is now open, improving chances that one day someone from outside the military could run the country.

"We have woken up from 24 years of sleep," said a Tanta limousine driver, Abdul Hamid Hassanein, 67. "We are looking for our personal freedoms and democracy."

One of Mr Mubarak's key challengers, the New Wafd party leader Noaman Gomaa, wrapped up his campaign by complaining of minor harassment from the ruling party's supporters and worrying about possible voting day violations.

However, Mr Gomaa also praised the coverage his campaign received from state-owned media.

Mr Mubarak, 77, has ruled since Islamic militants assassinated President Anwar Sadat in 1981 and is the only leader many of Egypt's 72 million people have ever known.

Critics complain his political reforms do not go deep enough and say the vote is designed simply to return him to the presidency with a veneer of democracy.

Still, Mr Mubarak sought to show there was a real political race, touring Egyptian cities to press palms, kiss babies and criticise opponents.

Thousands of cheering Mr Mubarak supporters crowded a Cairo square on Sunday to hear the president call in his final campaign speech "for the support of all the citizens of the land of Egypt."

Mr Mubarak's huge advantages over his challengers made some Egyptians sigh.

"Why should I vote? Mubarak is going to win anyway," said Salah Saleem, a 29-year-old driver for a foreign aid agency who lives in Cairo's slum-like Boulaq Dakrour neighbourhood.

Mr Nour, another of Mr Mubarak's main rivals, said it will be tough to beat him this time.

Nevertheless, Mr Nour, whose jailing earlier this year led Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to cancel a visit to Egypt in protest, predicted change will come eventually.

"I know if we are not successful on Wednesday, that we will be in the next elections, because people are ready, thirsty and waiting for change," he said.

A major negative for many voters is the barring of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest and oldest Islamist movement, depriving several million voters in the impoverished, conservative masses of a clear choice.