CAIRO, Sept 6: With his reelection battle all but won, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s main struggle on the eve of Wednesday’s landmark election was to secure a strong enough turnout to legitimise his victory.

Mubarak, 77, wrapped up his campaign for the country’s first contested presidential election with an appeal to Egypt’s 32 million voters to go to the polls, but observers predict many could stay at home.

“The Hosni Mubarak speaking to you tonight is seeking the support of each and everyone of you,” he told vast crowds in Cairo on Sunday on the final day of his campaign, which has been dominated by pledges to create more jobs and improve wages.

According to independent estimates, turnout reached barely 10 per cent in the previous elections won by Mubarak, and observers suspect there will be no correlation between votes actually cast and the official result.

Uncertainty over the ability of independent observers to monitor the election because of a dispute between the electoral commission and the courts has fuelled fears of widespread vote-rigging.

Until now, Egyptians had only been able to approve a single candidate, but Mubarak — who has ruled Egypt for 24 years — introduced pluralist elections earlier this year under intense international and domestic pressure.

In 1999 Mubarak was re-elected with 93.79 per cent of the vote.

With the four-term president known as ‘rais’ or ‘the boss’ at little risk of being dragged into a second round showdown with one of his nine opponents, newspapers were rife with speculation on the turnout figure.—AFP