WASHINGTON -- Although Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is widely expected to win the presidential elections on Wednesday, reports from Cairo indicate that it will be far from a shoe-in. Mubarak will more than likely be reelected to a fifth six-year term, but it will be without the usual high percentile points that he has been accustomed to in previous balloting - and where he was the sole candidate.

In these elections Mubarak faces competition from about 10 candidates, two of whom represent somewhat of a serious threat - Ayman Al Nur, leader of the Ghad (Tomorrow) Party, and Numan Gomaa. Nur is seen as representing the reformist camp.

Mubarak is also coming under growing pressure from organized opposition - from the banned Muslim Brotherhood, to the Egyptian Communist Party - who together with a plethora of other political parties, have joined forces under the umbrella group known as Kifaya, or Enough.

Kifaya had brought together an amalgam of political ideologies in an attempt to counter Mubarak's 24-year rule on the country. Despite heavy-handed police tactics, intimidation by the "Mukhabarat", the secret police and control of the government-run media, the opposition continues to make headway. Though it may not be enough.

As Nur cautioned only a few days ago, "People are no longer afraid to speak out and take to the streets." He predicts massive popular reaction if fraud in the balloting is proven.

Gomaa, too, tries to portray himself as a "populist reincarnation of his Wafd Party's historic icon, Saad Zaghlul", says the Internet-based Egypt Election Daily News.

"With his finger pointing forward, the Gomaa on the billboards insists, 'Be with me people and let us genuinely change Egypt'." In dozens of magazine ads Gomaa has been accused of being too negative.

"Underneath the slogan, 'We've suffocated', the ad features a group of angry people describing the nation's chronic ills - poor education, an unattractive job market, deteriorating health policies," reports Egypt Election Daily News.

Egyptian publishers were initially reluctant to publish such negative ads against the government, particularly in view of their criticism of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). It was only after the government okayed the ads that they ran.

Amid unprecedented electioneering in the Arab world come reports that both Nur and Gomaa have chartered private planes to fly them across the country.

According to Egypt Election Daily News, "Nur himself has pioneered a 'knock on the door' style of campaign as well as other gimmicks like putting out a daily paper that he sells for 24 piasters, to symbolize Mubarak's 24 years in power."

In what has come to resemble Western-style campaigning, Nur said that if President Mubarak "really does manage to create the 400,000 jobs he has promised, even he will vote for him".

Even Mubarak, who is almost certain to pocket the election, has been campaigning hard in such a manner that it is giving his two opponents, Nur and Gomaa, greater credibility as presidential 'possibles'. The president, who adopted a more casual look, doing without his habitual tie, is campaigning on a daily basis.

Egypt Election Daily News says that, "while [the president is] not kissing babies, [he is] at least meeting constituencies in different parts of the country, shaking hands and cracking jokes while trying to focus on an ambitious list of campaign promises".

And in a sign of our times, Mubarak has launched his own Internet Website, 'mubarak2005.com'. The site, in Arabic and English features speeches and electoral promises by the president, as well as major achievements of the Rais. The backdrop color to Mubarak's Website seems wisely chosen too, a pale green; the color of Islam.

But in yet another first in the Arab world, the Website also features Egypt's First Lady Suzanne Mubarak, including a photograph showing her smiling and unveiled.

The site lists her biography; she was born in the province of Minya in Egypt, in 1941; Her education: secondary education at St. Claire's school for girls in Cairo; her Bachelors Degree in Political Science from the American University in Cairo in 1977. A Masters Degree in Sociology in 1982; her thesis was titled, "Social Action Research in Urban Egypt; a Case Study of Primary School Upgrading in Boulaq".

And her involvement in promoting literacy: "In 1991 the first lady launched a national campaign for the widespread 'Reading for All' program. The campaign was instrumental in fostering awareness for children's illiteracy in Egypt, and the program has made strides in developing reading skills within children and youth."

"The Website is meant to show us," says procurement supervisor Wael Hassan, "that the president is very much with the times. He knows what people are saying about how long he's been in power, and he wants to show that, despite that, he's still able to drive this country's modernization process forward."

Mubarak's slogan is "Mubarak 2005: Leadership and crossing to the future", reports the Egypt Election Daily News.

While the president's campaign has accentuated on all the positive aspects of his presidency, the thousands of schools and factories built during his time in office, there is no mention of what ails Egyptians today; how poorly education, health and the economy are faring.

But if Egyptian politics have taken to mirror those of the West, it stops short of going all the way with American-styled television debates. The NDP - Mubarak's party - claims that logistic difficulties prevent such a forum. Egyptian bloggers, ever more active, believe that it has "more to do with the government's fears of what a debate would reveal".

Writes one blogger named Sandmonkey: "It would really have tickled my fancy to see Mubarak up there defending his record [in a televised public debate] ... to bring down the view of the president from demi-god to public servant."