The ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) of President Hosni Mubarak has not yet selected its candidate for presidential elections slated for next year, Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif said on Wednesday.
“We're still waiting for the president to decide whether or not he intends to run,” he declared.
Speaking at the Euromoney investment conference currently underway in Cairo, Nazif said that the transition of executive power in Egypt did not represent a problem.
“We already have a leader,” the PM asserted. “There's no need to look for an alternative.”
“Egypt boasts a 7000-year history, during which numerous transitions of power have taken place,” he added. “The last one, which followed the assassination of [former president Anwar] Sadat, transpired smoothly.”
“Several political parties plan to field candidates in the upcoming elections,” Nazif noted, vowing that the electoral contests would be held "in all transparency."
“We will provide the world with an example of how to achieve political reform,” he concluded.
Last month, NDP Secretary-General Safwat al-Sherif, who is also speaker of the Shura Council, said that "consensus" had been reached within the ranks of the ruling party to nominate the 82-year-old Mubarak for a sixth term as president.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
