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The Egyptian presidential election of 2005, held on September 7, 2005, was the first allegedly contested presidential election in Egypt's history. Hosni Mubarak, the former President of Egypt, won a fifth consecutive six-year term in office, with official results showing he won 88.6% of the vote. Mubarak's opponent, Ayman Nour, of the Tomorrow Party, is estimated to have received 7.3% of the vote and Numan Gumaa received 2.8%, however, Nour claimed that prior polling results showed over 30%. Criticism of the election process has cenetred on the process of selecting the eligible candidates, and on alleged election-law violations during voting. Mubarak was sworn in for his new term on September 27.
The election was the first-ever multi-party election in the history of Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian rule. Ten parties were set to take part; the leading candidates were:
Also contending are:
Until recently, Egyptians have only been able to approve or reject a candidate appointed by parliament, which is dominated by Hosni Mubarak's NDP.
Mubarak had been re-elected four times during his 24-year rule by such a referendum. Mubarak won the 1999 referendum with almost 94% of the vote, though turnout was probably around 10%.
A constitutional amendment approved in a referendum in May 2005 opened the way for multi-candidate presidential elections.
Under Egyptian election law, all Egyptians over age eighteen are required to vote. However, out of a population of approximately 77,500,000 (the largest in the Arab world), only about 32 million voters were registered (approximately 40% of the total population).