CAIRO, 17 June 2005 — Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who is now 77, will run in the upcoming presidential elections seeking a fifth consecutive term in office and will appoint a vice president, according to the presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad.
Awad said yesterday that Mubarak will announce his candidacy in a TV speech after the lower house of parliament passes the new electoral law. Parliament Speaker Fathi Srour told Arab News that the law is expected to be approved on Saturday. He added that the parliament refused to allow a dual nationality-candidate to join the race upon Mubarak’s request.
“This will be Mubarak’s last term,” Awad said. “He wants a free, democratic and fair election. He wants to be remembered as the one who did this…these changes will be his legacy.”
During 23 years in office, Mubarak has never appointed a vice-president — the post which brought both Mubarak and his predecessor, Anwar Sadat, to the presidency.
The four presidents since the monarchy was overthrown in 1952 have all come from the military. Analysts say any new president would find it hard to govern without military consent.
The man most cited as a possible vice-president is intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, another former officer.
Suleiman met this week with Palestinian officials before heading to Israel where met with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to discuss the planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip due to start later this year.
A source who heard Awad speak to British journalists quoted him as saying Mubarak did not necessarily expect to win by a massive margin.
In the last four presidential referendums, the government has released figures showing more than 90 percent support.
“President Mubarak would be happy to be re-elected with only 65 percent,” Awad was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, Egyptian opposition groups said they refuse to meet with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her upcoming visit to Egypt on Monday.
Georges Isaac, a co-founder of the Egyptian Movement for Change, known as Kefaya (Enough), said his group will not meet any American official to discuss Egypt’s internal affairs, particularly political reforms.
“If we want political reform to be implemented in the country we want to do it ourselves not to be imposed or to be even discussed with Rice,” Isaac said. “We are against the US policies in the region and we cannot have any negotiations with them and all the opposition parties in the country agree on what I’m saying,” he told Arab News.
According to the US Embassy spokesperson, Rice is scheduled to meet with representatives of opposition political parties and movements as well as human rights activists. She is also expected to hold talks with President Mubarak and the Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Aboul Gheit.
Aboul Gheit said that Rice’s visit is expected to be fruitful and that it comes within the context of the continued Egyptian-US consultations. The minister added that the US has been always keeping an eye on the Palestinian cause and the visit of Rice comes to reassert such a point.
—With additional input from Reuters.
