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CAIRO, Egypt - Egyptians voted today in the country's first-ever contested presidential election, but charges of fraud and a big boycott rally marred balloting that longtime leader Hosni Mubarak portrayed as a major democratic reform.

Ordinary citizens and opposition party members told The Associated Press that election workers inside polls in Luxor instructed voters to choose Mubarak, who is expected to be easily re-elected to a fifth six-year term.

More than 3,000 people marched through downtown Cairo at midafternoon - by far the largest crowd ever drawn by the opposition group Kifaya, or "Enough" in Arabic.

Nine candidates are running against Mubarak, but only two are considered significant.

Final results were not expected until Saturday.

By The Associated Press