President Hosni Mubarak was heading for a comfortable victory in Egypt’s first multi-candidate presidential elections today.

But the experiment in democracy risked being seriously compromised by intimidation, electoral abuse and widespread voter apathy.

Although official results will not be known before Saturday at the earliest, Egyptians across the political spectrum predicted a landslide for Mr Mubarak, who has run the country since 1981 and will now be returned to a fifth six-year term in office.

Some estimated that he would romp home with as much as 80 per cent of the vote. Even before the first ballot was cast, one Cairo newspaper ran a front-page headline confidently stating that the incumbent would clinch 72 per cent of the vote. But the victory will be tempered by the manner in which it was won.

Today Egyptian plainclothes police broke up a protest by hundreds of supporters of the anti-Mubarak Kefaya (Enough) movement who held a demonstration calling for a boycott of the election.

Human rights groups, who were monitoring abuses at polling stations, also reported their observers were harrassed and detained in incidents from Alexandria to Cairo and Upper Egypt.

Arguably the most damning indictment of the country’s first test in multi-party democracy was the distinct impression that a minority of Egypt’s 32 million eligible voters bothered to take part.

In a visit to polling stations and in interviews with Egyptians today it was clear that Mr Mubarak does enjoy genuine support.

Government employees, professionals and simple workers praised the 77-year-old former air force officer for maintaining peace and stability in Egypt at a time when violence and chaos is sweeping the region.

Karema Mustafa, an official at the Cairo municipality, proudly brandished her crimson red finger tip as proof that she had voted. "We all came from my office to vote. We are all voting for Mubarak. I do not know anything about the other candidates," she said.

But voting often resembled another referendum on Mr Mubarak, rather than a real race between ten rival candidates. None of Mr Mubarak’s competitors has any real political stature and only two candidates, Ayman Nour and Numan Gumaa, were expected to reach double-digit support.

The ruling National Democratic Party demonstrated today that it is still the most powerful political institution in the land and made it clear to voters that they had a duty to vote for the incumbent, who has been in office as long as most Egyptians have been alive.

At Cairo’s Sonkor district a giant hand-painted poster of Mr Mubarak dominated the entrance to the polling station in a local school. Music blared from giant speakers outside chanting "we choose him, we choose him". Inside the polling station NDP workers wearing "Vote Mubarak" badges appeared more actively involved in organising proceedings than the electoral officials.

Youssef al-Arabi, a young professional who was voting for Mr Nour complained that the whole process was "a farce", but he added that he felt compelled to take part.

Across town hundreds of demonstators belonging to the opposition Kefaya movement stopped traffic in Cairo’s main Tahrir Square to argue the opposite, that the electoral process would only add legitimacy to a corrupt regime whose time had come.

"The purpose of this demonstration is to protest against what is happening," said George Ishak, one of the movement’s leaders. "This is illegitimate and corrupt. This country has had enough of Mubarak. We should boycott the vote."

Egyptian police were at pains not to interfere while the protest was being observed by scores of foreign journalists. Later, however, plainclothes officers broke up the rally, beating protesters and ripping up their anti-Mubarak posters and banners.

One key test of the government’s support will be voter turnout. Egypt’s electoral commission insisted today that there was a high turnout and urged voters to be "patient" if they were forced to queue. However, a visit to several polling stations in Cairo revealed few voters taking part.

In the central Abdin district of Cairo, where Mr Mubarak gave his closing campaign speech on Sunday, only a few hundred voters had cast their ballots by mid-afternoon.

On Cairo’s crowded pavements and bustling cafes few people of voting age had a dyed forefinger, the sign that they had voted. Election day in Egypt was certainly in stark contrast to Iraq’s elections earlier this year, when millions turned out to vote, many of them standing in line for hours to cast their ballots.

While the result of today’s vote may never have been in doubt, Western diplomats said that the campaign had been relatively open and that the country had taken a first important step.

"It is not just about what happened today. This is a process. The next step will be the parliamentary elections in November. That will be a greater contest," said a senior Western diplomat.

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