On Saturday evening, in a star-studded ceremony in Lisbon, the New 7 Wonders of the world will be revealed.

Tickets to the event, to be staged at Benfica's Stadium of Light, will cost up to £75 and Christiano Ronaldo, Jose Carreras, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Kingsley will be among the guests.

The "winners" of the Wonders poll will be those voted for my millions of online people worldwide.

But the process is far from perfect, with governments helping skew the votes, and punters being encouraged to vote by text - and even invited to buy additional votes for $2.

Unesco, which awards World Heritage status to historical sites worldwide and oversees their maintenance, has snubbed the awards as have some governments, including Egypt.

The entire event is a private initiative instigated by a Swiss businessman, Bernard Weber, at the turn of the millennium.

From the original list of 40 sites, nominees were narrowed down to 21 last year - with the public invited to vote for their seven favourites online. People without access to the internet, however, have been encouraged to pay international rates to vote by telephone or text message.

Those keen to cast multiple votes to try and ensure their favourite triumphs can register further votes online by purchasing 'certificates' at $2 a time - which also allows an additional vote.

A spokesperson for New 7 Wonders, Tia Viering, said that the not-for-profit organisation will use the proceeds of paid-for voting and other income to cover costs - £6.75m to date - and "fund future awards". She insisted it is a non-profit organisation with the same status as the Red Cross.

Plans include campaigns to find the seven wonders of nature, seven wonders of technology and seven symbols of world peace.

So far more than 90 million votes have been cast, around 80 per cent online. There are concerns, however, that with apathy in the western world, the winners will come from populous, developing countries where the governments have intiatives to encourage their residents to vote.

Brazil and Mexico are tipped to succeed due to government campaigns for the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio and the Chitzen Itza Mayan ruins on Mexico's Yucatan coast, while voter apathy in China is putting the inclusion of the Great Wall of China at risk.

Other methods of increasing votes include the donation of 10,000 Jordanian dinars (£7,000) by a food company that allowed 115,000 votes to be registered for Petra by students in Amman, and free internet terminals in Peru for residents to vote for Machu Picchu.

In the most controversial development, the Egyptian government wrote a letter of complaint to Unesco (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisaton). Egypt's Culture Minister, Farouk Hosni, is quoted on the Travel Industry Review website as saying that: "This foundation is a for-profit entity directed by a person who owns a tour company in Switzerland."

Dr Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) in Cairo, wrote to the Swiss embassy to complain and "informed the event organizers that Egypt will not participate in this campaign nor cooperate with them in any way."

The New 7 Wonders took this into consideration and halted voting for the Pyramids of Giza, making it an honorary candidate. The seven winners will be drawn from the the remaining 20 nominees.

Unesco, for its part, confirmed that it had been invited to support the project on several occasions, but had decided not to collaborate. A statement released by the Organisation concludes: "There is no comparison between Mr Weber's mediatised campaign and the scientific and educational work resulting from the inscription of sites on Unesco's World Heritage List.

The list of the '7 New Wonders of the World' will be the result of a private undertaking, reflecting only the opinions of those with access to the internet and not the entire world. This initiative cannot, in any significant and sustainable manner, contribute to the preservation of sites elected by this public."

Meanwhile, the Unesco World Heritage Committee met last week in Christchurch, New Zealand, and added 22 sites to the World Heritage List. The new additions range from the Rainforests of the Atsinanana in Madagascar to the old town of Corfu. You can see the new additions on the Unesco website.

www.new7wonders.com

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