CAIRO: Egypt's veteran President Hosni Mubarak pledged to pursue political reforms after sweeping to a fifth term in office in an election widely criticized by his opponents. "The true victory is the victory for democracy and pluralism," Mubarak said in his first speech since his victory in the country's contested presidential election.

"The pursuit of reforms is irrevocable," he told members of his ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) at meeting held under a tent in the gardens of his Ittihadiyya presidential palace in the capital's Heliopolis suburb.

In the presence of his son Gamal, the initiator of a reformist wing within the NDP and seen as a possible successor, Mubarak vowed "to build a modern society in a democratic country."

"I say to the young, the workers, the peasants, the intellectuals and the middle classes: I will stand by your side and support your causes and ambitions," said Mubarak.

Official results announced late Friday gave Mubarak 88.5 percent of the vote but put the turnout at only 23 percent, with the 6.3 million people who voted for the president representing just 8.6 percent of Egypt's overall population.

Mubarak promised to combat unemployment - which official figures put at 10.5 percent, but double that according to international organizations - and create jobs in his new term running up until 2011.

U.S. President George W. Bush congratulated Mubarak on his re-election, a White House spokesman said, while pointing to flaws in the voting system that he said should be fixed.

"This election represents an important step toward holding fully free and fair competitive multi-party elections," the spokesman said.

"We expect it will be part of a process of continuing political reforms and that the flaws that were visible in this election will be corrected for November's parliamentary election."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice welcomed "one step in the march toward the full democracy," while warning that "more needs to be done to increase the voice of the people and their confidence in the democratic process."

The European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana described the poll as "progress for democracy in Egypt."

The polls showed Egypt's determination to establish the basis for "widening democratic practice in the Arab world," Solana said in a message to Mubarak.

Mubarak issued a decree later in the day recalling Parliament from its summer recess for an extraordinary session on September 27 at which he will take his new oath of office, the state MENA news agency reported.