Official: Mubarak wins Egypt election

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%.

The low participation reflected widespread scepticism among Egyptians over the government’s claims that the election opens the door to greater democratic reform – and apathy over a vote that Mubarak was certain to win.

Before Wednesday’s election, officials in Mubarak’s ruling party said they hoped at least 30% of the 32 million registered voters would cast ballots.

The 77-year-old Mubarak, who has ruled Egypt for 24 years, had won a new six-year term with 88.571% of the vote, the head of the elections commission, Mamdouh Marie, said, announcing the final results.

Second place went to Ayman Nour of the opposition Al-Ghad party, with 7.3% of the vote.

The other main opposition candidate, Noaman Gomaa of the Wafd Party, received 2.8%.

The election was the first in which Mubarak faced a competitor after years of being re-elected in “yes-no” referendums ini which he was the sole candidate.

His government has touted the change as a major democratic reform, and as a candidate Mubarak promised further change. But opponents were skeptical, with most major parties boycotting the election.

Widespread violations were reported by voters, opposition groups and independent monitors during the balloting – particularly strong pressure from officials and other on voters to back Mubarak.

But the election saw none of the violence or overt vote rigging that has plagued past parliamentary elections.

Marie, 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.”

On Thursday, Nour demanded the election be repeated because of the allegations, but the commission – which reform-minded judges have accused of being dominated by the government – rejected the request.

Third-place finisher Gomaa said today 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 that the violations were not enough to affect Mubarak’s victory.