NDP Official Confirms Mubarak Will Run in 2011

NDP Official Confirms Mubarak Will Run in 2011

According to a recent article posted in the Egyptian newspaper, Alyoum elsabaa Ali Eddin Helal, the National Democratic Party’s information secretary, confirmed that President Hosni Mubarak will be seeking re-election in 2011.This will be his sixth term in office if he wins the elections. Mubarak has been in power since 1981 after the late President Sadat was assassinated, and has since imposed the ’emergency law’ which has been renewed despite much criticism by the opposition

Recent rumours instigated by Helal that Mubarak would bequeath power to his 47-year-old-son Gamal, has apparently been proven incorrect.

The information secretary’s statement to the US-backed-TV channel Alhurra is to date the strongest indication that the aging president plans to continue his rule explaining the recent absence of his son Gamal from the public arena.

According to Ahmed al-Sawi who wrote in Al Masry Al Youm:

News about Gamal’s activities have altogether disappeared from the papers since he accompanied President Hosni Mubarak on a visit to Washington in August (with the exception of his “historic” trip last month to Mahallet Marhoum village in Gharbiya). Since then, there has hardly been any news about the president’s son, nor has he been involved in any public meetings or tours in Egyptian villages.

Sawi highlights that Gamal’s absence may indicate that he will not run for presidency, where he states:

Perhaps Gamal’s withdrawal is connected to the almost unmistakable signs that Hosni Mubarak will run for a sixth presidential term next year, frustrating his son’s hopes for the presidency. Or, having built his political agenda on promises to improve the well-being of Egyptians and to enhance the quality of public services, Gamal is perhaps too embarrassed to face the masses who are devastated by soaring food prices which have strained the already tight budgets of many Egyptian households.

However, it seems that with political activity at its peak with the upcoming parliamentary elections and campaigns in Egypt, Gamal’s withdrawal from the public eye is most probably associated with the once rumoured, but now confirmed report  that Hosni Mubarak will run for a sixth presidential term next year.