Incumbent President Hosni Mubarak, candidate of the ruling National Democratic Party, was re-elected with a landslide victory over nine rivals in Egypt's first multi-candidate presidential election, the Presidential Election Commission (PEC) announced Friday.

PEC Chairman Mamdouh Marie said that 23 percent of the 32 million registered voters cast ballots in the election and Mubarak gained 88.6 percent of the votes.

The second was Ayman Nour of the Al-Ghad (tomorrow) Party with 7.3 percent of the votes and the third was Noaman Gomma of the liberal Wafd Party.

Mubarak, 77, who has been in power since 1981 when his predecessor Anwar Sadat was assassinated by Islamic extremists for making peace with Israel, will be sworn in during an emergency parliamentary session next week.

Under Egypt's former political system, the president was not elected directly by the electorate. Instead, the parliament chose a sole candidate and then the only nominee was put to a referendum.

Mubarak proposed to the parliament in February that the constitution be amended to allow more than one candidate to stand in the presidential race.

The amendment was approved by a referendum in May, paving the way for the first direct multi-candidate presidential election in the most populous Arab country.

From Aug. 17 to Sept. 4, 10 presidential candidates made intense campaigning around the country, delivering speeches and presenting their election platforms and programs to voters.

The election was welcomed by the European Union and the United States. Washington said it was following the election closely and called the vote "a beginning".

Source: Xinhua