Fresh succession debate as Egypt's ruling party opens annual meeting

Oct 31, 2009, 10:10 GMT

Cairo- The sixth annual conference of Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) opens on Saturday in Cairo to review social justice, political and economic issues.

President Hosny Mubarak is expected to give the opening speech in the evening, while his is son Gamal, the head of the NDP's powerful Policies Committee, is expected to address the conference on Sunday.

While the Mubaraks are expected to stay away from the much talked about issue of who will succeed the 81-year-old president, delegates at the meeting are expected to debate the issue among themselves.

Since Mubarak appointed his son as head of the Policies Committee in 2002 and did not appoint a vice president, many in Egypt and abroad have speculated that Gamal, 45, was being groomed for the presidency. Both have repeatedly denied this.

But Egypt's Prime Minister Ahmad Nazif's recent statements describing the younger man as a 'possibility' renewed the debate. In Dubai this week, Nazif said Gamal Mubarak ' has been in the political system long enough to understand the issues. He shows vision. He is young.'

The opposition has geared up against the possibility. Earlier this month, Ayman Nour, who ran for president in the 2005 elections, launched a campaign, alongside other opposition figures, against hereditary succession in the presidency.

Last week, Nour told the German Press Agency dpa that that he intended to sue Gamal for acting as 'the unofficial ruler of the country.'

Opposition activists and expatriate Egyptian groups have offered alternatives to the president's son in media reports. Among names mentioned was scientist and Nobel Prize laureate Ahmed Zuweil and Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa has not ruled out the possibility that he could make a bid for the presidency.