Egypt's mainstream media on Saturday welcomed incumbent President Hosni Mubarak's winning in the country's first multi-candidate presidential election, while hoping for more reforms in his fifth six-year term.

Mubarak gained 88.5 percent of the votes, according to official results announced late Friday. His main rivals, Ayman Nour of the opposition Al-Ghad (tomorrow) party and Noaman Gomaa of the Wafd party, took 7.3 percent and 2.8 percent respectively.

Front-page headlines on most government-run dailies read " Mubarak for Egypt" and "Congratulations for Egypt."

The semi-official daily al-Ahram said, "Picking up the president from a number of candidates is a corner stone for democracy," While Akhbar el-Youm described the president as a "civilization maker whose model should be followed."

"The seventh of September will continue to be a historic day for Egypt and all Egyptians, as Egyptians for the first time chose their president," said Abdullah Hassan, board chairman and editor-in-chief of the official MENA news agency.

In his article published on Akhbar el-Youm, Hassan wrote, "Mubarak surprised the world by announcing the amendment of Article 76 of the Constitution to open the gate wide for any Egyptian to run for the post of the president of the republic."

"As a matter of fact, what is going in Egypt nowadays is considered a real revolution in political and media thoughts, a matter which made us proud of before the whole world and turned Egypt to be a pioneering country in democracy and freedom as it was a pioneering country in war and peace," he said.

As for the turnout -- 23 percent of the 32 million registered voters, analysts said the number was a mark showing Egyptians have started a new political process that could one day lead to furtherpolitical changes.

"The result of 23 percent was a good step, considering only three of the candidates offered to voters were serious and the election campaign was very short," said analyst Diaa Rashwan.

"Egyptians in general had no trust in the election process, butnow they for the first time were called on to vote," he said.

Political analyst Amr el-Choubaki gave credits to the monitoring of the polls by Egyptian judges, while Ahmed Mekki, deputy head of the Cassation Court, described the election as a "step forward," citing minor violations in the process.

"The 11,000 judges who supervised the electoral process do not accept directives from anybody because they are independent," Mekki said, adding "in general, the election was free."

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

In May, a referendum approved a major constitutional amendment,paving the way for the first direct multi-candidate presidential election in the most populous Arab country.

Source: Xinhua