About 83 percent of Egyptian voters said yes to a key constitutional amendment in Wednesday's referendum with a turnout of 53 percent, Egyptian Interior Minister HabibIbrahim el-Adli said Thursday.

The minister made the announcement at 5:30 PM local time (14:30GMT) after a nearly one-day vote counting in 329 main polling stations nationwide.

The referendum, which allows multi-candidates to run in the presidential elections for the first time in the country's history, started Wednesday at more than 54,000 polling stations across the country.

Some 32.5 million voters, about half of Egypt's population, are asked about whether they agree on the amendment, which spells out conditions to allow more than one candidate to stand in the presidential elections.

Officials said some 13,000 judges and legal workers were present at the polling stations to supervise the voting process as required by the constitution.

Under the constitution, the amendment needs at least 51 percent of yes votes in the referendum to get passed. If the amendment is endorsed by majority voters, the cabinet will start working on a draft election law regulating the presidential election process. Shura (Advisory) Council, the upper house of the parliament and People's Assembly, the lower house, have approved the amendment earlier this month and several sessions have been held to hammer out the details.

The amendment says any political party recognized by the government will be able to field a candidate in the presidential elections slated for September.

Under Egypt's current political system, the president is not elected directly by the electorate. Instead, the parliament chooses a sole candidate and the only nominee is put to a referendum.

President Hosni Mubarak, who has ruled the country since 1981,proposed in February to amend the constitution. He has not indicated whether he will seek a fifth six-year term.

(Xinhua News Agency May 27, 2005)