Recent statements by Ibrahim Kamel, member of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP)'s General Secretariat, in which he said the NDP would "most likely" nominate Gamal Mubarak for the presidency in the event that his father, President Hosni Mubarak, declined to run himself, have led to speculation about rising internal discord within the party's ranks.
Some observers point to recent remarks by NDP Media Secretary Ali Eddin Helal, in which he said that discussion of the NDP's nominee for next year's presidential elections was "premature, if not insolent."
According to George Ishaq, member of would-be presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei's National Association for Change (NAC), some within the NDP want President Mubarak to run for a sixth term as president, while others support a Gamal Mubarak presidency. “We want neither of them,” he said.
“Attempts to bequeath power to the president’s son have receded recently following the emergence of ElBaradei as a possible contender in the elections,” said NAC coordinator Hassan Nafea.
Opposition MP Hamdin Sabbahi, for his part, described Kamel as a "businessmen" who supported the younger Mubarak merely to "make more money."
NDP member Mohamed Heiba said Kamel did not speak for the party as a whole. “This is not the official position of the NDP,” he said.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
