CAIRO, July 24 (Xinhuanet) -- Egypt's first multi-candidate presidential election will take place on Sept. 7 and the campaign will run from July 29 to Aug. 4 , the official MENA news agency reported on Sunday.

    The decision was made after the Presidential Election Commission held its first meeting in northeast Cairo on Sunday evening.

    The commission also decided that if no candidate wins at least 50 percent of valid votes, Egyptians will choose between the top two candidates in a second round of voting on Sept. 17, according to MENA.

    The commission released its above decision through MENA, and no official statement was immediately available.

    Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, 77, served four consecutive six-year terms since 1981 when former President Anwar Sadat was assassinated by Islamic extremists, has not announced his candidacy for this year's presidential election yet.

    The most prominent politician still planning to run for the presidency is Ayman Nour of the liberal Ghad (Tomorrow) Party, who was detained in January and is on trial on forgery charges. Enditem