Egypt's incumbent president Hosni Mubarak is seen taking an overwhelming lead in the country's first multi-candidate presidential election, the Egyptian Gazette daily reported Friday.

With votes counted in half of the country's polling stations, Mubarak, candidate of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), garnered at least 84 percent of the votes, according to unofficial estimates.

The remaining votes were shared between the two principal challengers, Ayman Nour of the Ghad (Tomorrow) Party and Noaman Gomaa of the el-Wafd Party.

A request by Nour to hold a re-run due to what he called irregularities in the election has been turned down by the Presidential Election Commission (PEC), PEC spokesman Osama Attawaiya told a press conference late Thursday.

The PEC is the sole authority that can announce official results.

The elected president will be sworn in front of an emergency parliamentary session next week.

As polls closed late Wednesday, the government did not have turnout figures. But officials said a large number of people were seen at some polling stations, although several independent monitoring groups said they expected turnout to be low.

The government played down reports of fraud, saying they did not diminish the electoral reforms that it called a major step toward democracy.

Meanwhile, the European Union and the United States welcomed Egypt's first competitive polls. The EU lauded the general atmosphere of election campaigning as calm.

Washington said it was following the election closely and called the vote "a beginning".

In the past, Egypt's president was not elected directly by the people. Instead, the parliament chose a sole candidate who would be later put to a referendum.

Source: Xinhua