EGYPT: Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak was officially pronounced the winner of the country's first contested presidential election last night, gaining a fifth six-year term.
Official results gave the incumbent 88.6 per cent of the vote, and put the turnout at 23 per cent of the 32 million registered voters.
Ayman Nour of the Ghad, or "Tomorrow", party, who faced regular harassment after declaring his candidacy, won 7.3 per cent of the vote. Before the result came in, the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, phoned Mr Mubarak to congratulate him.
The US, which had been pressing for a free and fair contest in a country where referendums and parliamentary elections have usually been marred by fraud, has so far refrained from comment, saying it is waiting to see the final outcome.
The Egyptian authorities refused to let international monitors observe the election, relying instead on the supervision of voting by judges.
Opposition parties have alleged numerous irregularities, including block-voting by government employees and vote-buying. On Thursday, Mr Nour presented the commission in charge of the election with a list of alleged violations and called for a re-run, which the commission rejected.
"There have been no violations and there are no doubts in the election process," commission spokesman Osama Attawiya told a press conference.
Earlier, information minister Anas al-Fiqi conceded there may have been some violations but said: "We have to agree that we're seeing an experience that we can build on for a future that realises more freedom and more democracy."
Opinion among unofficial observers is divided, although it appears that abuses were less systematic than those reported during a referendum last May, and probably not sufficient to affect the overall result.