The election commission has announced that 96.3% of the votes in Thursday's election went to Mr Saleh, who has been in power since 1978.

The result was expected. President Saleh's only opponent was a little known politician, Najib Al-Shaibi, who is a member of the president's own party, the General People's Congress (GPC) - although he stood as an independent.

They were the only contenders out of 30 nominees to win approval from the GPC-dominated parliament.

President Saleh had no serious opposition

The opposition Socialist party, whose candidate was among those barred from standing, denounced the vote as a sham. It had called on voters to boycott what it described as a "big show" staged by President Saleh.

Electoral Commission chairman Abdullah Hussein Barakat told a news conference that 66% of eligible voters took part in the elections.

International observers said the polling was generally free and fair.

But critics say the millions of dollars spent on the election would have been better spent on projects for the nation's impoverished 17 million people.

In a speech delivered on state television before the election result was announced, President Saleh said democracy would help secure a more prosperous future for Yemen.

A novel experience for many voters

"Democracy and the peaceful succession of power is considered by all our people to be the correct and civilised national choice which cannot ever be reversed," he said.

Yemen has held two direct parliamentary elections in the 1990s, but turnout was low and for many people, the presidential vote represeted their first experience of democracy.

The army, which backs the president, was reported to have bussed thousands of soldiers to polling stations to vote.

Voter optimism

Although the result was a foregone conclusion, local journalists predicted that the issues thrown up by these elections, and the election promises made, would change life for the better.

Many voters told journalists that they would vote for the president.

"He has given us everything - water, electricity, roads," said a mother of 10 in Sanaa, one of the first to vote.

President Saleh ruled former North Yemen from 1978 until its unification with the south in 1990.

He has remained president of the united Yemen since then, winning a brief and bloody civil war against the south in 1994.