Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak called today on parliament to amend the constitution to allow direct elections by secret ballot as he nears the end of his fifth six-year term in office.

``I have asked parliament today to amend the constitution and change the way presidential candidates are chosen before the elections'' in May, Mubarak said in a speech broadcast by Arab television stations such as Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based al- Arabiya.

The amendments should allow more than one presidential candidate to run in the polls, he said. Under the current electoral system, parliament nominates a single candidate and puts the nomination to a nationwide referendum.

Mubarak, 77, heads the ruling National Democratic Party, which controls parliament. He came to power in 1981 after the assassination of Anwar Sadat.

Feminist writer Nawal El Saadawi, human rights activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim, and Mohamed Fareed Hasanein, a businessman and former member of parliament, have said they want to run for the presidency and have demanded constitutional reform to allow elections to be contested by several candidates.

Sadat was assassinated by Khaled Eslamboli, who was opposed to the former president's signing of a peace deal with Israel in 1979. Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel. Since then, the Arab world's most populous country has received billions of dollars in U.S. aid.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dania Saadi in Dubai at dsaadi2@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 26, 2005 06:16 EST