Egyptian voters had a choice for president for the first time Wednesday in an election the United States hopes is a key step towards democracy across the Middle East. But the ballot was marred by charges of fraud and the near-certainty that President Hosni Mubarak will win another six years in office. Ordinary citizens, opposition party members and human rights monitors told the Associated Press that election workers inside polls in Luxor and other towns instructed voters to choose Mubarak. In Cairo and Alexandria, supporters of the ruling National Democratic Party promised food or money to poor people if they voted for the president, voters said. The leading opposition candidate, Ayman Nour, charged the elections "are not fair at all," and vowed to reject rigged results. But Osama Attawiya, spokesman for the country's election commission, said the group had received no major complaints or reports of problems. A top official in the other major opposition party, Sayed Badawy of the Wafd, said that while fraud and intimidation were apparent: "This is the first time for a president to reach out to the citizens and ask for their support. This is a positive thing." He and several independent monitoring groups said they expected turnout to be low, despite government predictions of high turnout. The number of voters might indicate whether recent calls for reform have shaken ordinary Egyptians out of an apathy generated by years of stagnation.
In Washington, State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said the US was following the election closely and called the vote "a beginning." "These elections really mark a historic departure for Egypt, in the fact that you have multi-candidate presidential elections. I think it's safe to say that Egyptians have not seen a presidential election like the one they have just seen in their lifetimes," he told reporters.