Voting by expats in Egypt's first post-Mubarak presidential election is running smoothly despite one or two cases of fraud, Amr Rushdy, official spokesman at the foreign ministry, said Tuesday.

Egyptian diplomatic delegations abroad are doing all they can to ensure expatriate Egyptians are able to exercise their political rights and help decide the future of their country, Rushdy added.

He confirmed the occurrence of one or two incidents where voters had signed a false name on their voting application, but the practice was not widespread.

Forging is more likely towards the end of the voting window when it is assumed that certain citizens are not participating, he said.

Reports regarding minor cases of fraud will be submitted to the Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission (SPEC).

Egyptians in 166 countries around the world began voting for one of 13 presidential candidates in the first post-Mubarak Egyptian presidential election on Friday 11 May, with polls closing on 17 May. Run-off voting for expats is set to take place between 3 and 9 June if necessary.

The SPEC confirmed that 587,000 expatriates in 166 countries registered to vote in the election. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates (UAE) are the nations with most Egyptian voters, followed by Qatar, the USA and Canada.