Hosni Mubarak: In power He has not yet made a public announcement, but in all likelihood the announcement will come in six to eight months' time. President Hosni Mubarak, in office since 1981, seems likely to be nominated for a sixth term in office starting in autumn next year. His age of 82 does not seem to be an issue hindering such a move. Over the past year, there was much speculation over the state of President Mubarak's health, his grip on state affairs, and his plans for a successor, who, many insist, will be none other than Gamal Mubarak, his younger son and the star of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), Mubarak's own party. The president, who has invested considerable energy to reassure public opinion and the stock market of his physical well-being following surgery to remove his gall bladder in Germany in March last year, is making few efforts to hush rumours about the alleged political grooming of his younger son, despite occasional denials. This is typical of the president, who is known to be reserved about giving out information. Mubarak has not reacted to the guessing game regarding a possible cabinet reshuffle, which has also been the source of much speculation. The few reactions to the speculation and leaks that have emerged this year have come from Mubarak's almost equally reserved spokesman, Suleiman Awad, who categorically denied the account found in former US president George W Bush's book Decision Points to the effect that Mubarak had warned Bush before the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 that Saddam Hussein might have weapons of mass destruction that he would be prepared to use against invaders. The denial was short and to the point, and the issue has not been revisited by the presidency or by the president. Those who knew Mubarak well during his years in the armed forces, and then as vice- president and president of the country, say that he is a man who speaks little but who acts upon the little that he says. For such people, Mubarak's telling the recently inaugurated parliament that he has economic plans for the next five years means that he is determined to stick to his post. After all, the president is not in danger of losing his grip, or his sense of humour, or the loyalty of his closest aides who have served him well during his decades in power and who are determined to rally behind him. As far as such people are concerned, Mubarak is Egypt's present and future president. As Mubarak himself once put it, "I shall remain at the service of the nation for as long as my heart is beating." Zeinab Radwan: Winner takes it all It was a good year for Zeinab Radwan who not only retained a parliamentary seat but was re- elected deputy speaker of the People's Assembly. Radwan has been a member of parliament for the past two terms (2000 and 2005) and served as deputy speaker between 2005 and 2010. In November's election Radwan ran under the quota system, standing in the North Cairo seat that includes 12 regular constituencies. A professor of Islamic philosophy, Radwan is a member of the National Democratic Party (NDP), a former member of the Shura Council and current member of the NDP's Political Bureau and Policies Committee. Radwan's main concern is social welfare. She plans to work on a scheme to help schools promote tolerance among children. For her any schism between Copts and Muslims is one that Egyptian society cannot live with. She also believes some articles of the personal status law need to be amended to better secure women's rights and underwrite the stability of the family. Legislation should also be introduced on street children. Radwan believes there should be coordination with the Armed Forces to offer street children vocational training and protect them against exploitation. Radwan's parliamentary agenda also includes education, especially tailoring the curricula to fit the requirements of the job market. Pope Shenouda: Frail but firm The Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt may be an ageing and ailing man, but he is also a powerful man. Born Nazir Geyad on 3 August 1923, Pope Shenouda III has been at the helm of the church, which leads close to 15 per cent of the Egyptian population, since 1971. Over the past decades, the Coptic Patriarch's shrewdness and calculations have guided him onto the right path, both for himself and for his flock. Last year, however, was an unusually difficult one for Pope Shenouda. The concerns of the country's Coptic population seem to be filling the heart of this 87-year-old Patriarch with sadness. The year started with the killing of six Coptic men as they were exiting a church in Upper Egypt after Christmas mass. This was one of the very few occasions in modern Egyptian history on which Copts have been killed in this way. The year ended with the deaths of three Copts who were demonstrating in the poorer Giza district of Omraniya over the attempt of the security forces to demolish a church built without the required licence. When Coptic Christmas comes in January, it seems likely that the over 40 Copts arrested following clashes with the security forces during demonstrations in early December will still be held in custody. Shenouda has been fasting and praying, but he interrupted his retreat at the monastery of Wadi Al-Natroun in order to hear the speech by President Hosni Mubarak before the joint session of parliament. Sitting with Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa and the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar, Ahmed El-Tayeb, Pope Shenouda did not hide his feelings during the speech. The fact that President Mubarak had selected seven Coptic figures as appointed MPs in place of the 10 that he is constitutionally entitled to appoint perhaps did not reassure the Pope, who has spoken of his anger at the security forces' "excessive use of force" against Coptic demonstrators. He may also have been thinking of a recent court ruling that has been seen as an attempt to force the Coptic Church to grant divorces and grant the right to re-marry, which is against the church's official line. The Patriarch is aware of the hurt many Muslims feel over the offensive remarks made by one of his closest aides, Bishop Bishoy, a potential successor to Shenouda, about the Quran . Throughout the year, Pope Shenouda has managed to pacify and reassure, even if not fully. It is not clear, however, if he has decided that he needs to make a gesture to express his concerns in a forceful way, as he did in 1981 when he decided to cancel celebrations of Easter. It is unclear what Shenouda will do next. But it is clear that this man, who has always carefully defended the Coptic Church, is considering his next move. Ahmed Ezz: NDP star Ahmed Ezz, after being credited with securing the NDP's landslide victory in the elections, has seen his political capital rise. Many in the party see him as the biggest star of 2010, or running second to Gamal Mubarak, President Hosni Mubarak's son and the dynamo of NDP reforms. A business tycoon as well as an influential politician, he has been targeted by critics who accuse him of exploiting his positions in the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) to promote his business interests. Ezz faced a hostile press campaign which took him to task for manipulating the two-round parliamentary elections in favour of the ruling party and creating an opposition-free parliament. In his capacity as NDP secretary for organisational affairs Ezz told parliament that "the plan designed to mobilise the NDP's voting bloc in the last polls was a brilliant success and allowed the NDP to win a huge majority as well as keep a tight rein on its deputies". Ezz penned two articles in Al-Ahram under the title "We won and the Brotherhood lost", arguing that "the NDP has changed and so have the facts on the ground". According to Ezz, the NDP won because economic and living conditions have improved which was not the case in 2005 when the party lost seats to the Muslim Brotherhood. Ezz also believes that the NDP's organisational skills played a key role in its overwhelming success. Ezz is a leading figure in the party's "new guard" which dominates the Policies Committee chaired by Gamal Mubarak. Ezz joined the NDP's General Secretariat in 2000, alongside Gamal Mubarak. In the same year he became a member of parliament after winning the seat of Menouf, a constituency in the Nile-Delta governorate of Menoufiya where his steel plants are located. Ezz was soon appointed chairman of the assembly's Budget Committee. Mohamed Badie: Hardliner lives up to his image Elected supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in January, Mohamed Badie, a 64- year-old epidemiologist, succeeded Mahdi Akef, the first MB leader to retire from the post after completing two terms in office. Previous MB leaders have remained at the helm of the organisation till their death. Badie's election signalled a transformation of sorts within the Brotherhood. On one hand the group's former leader was making a deliberate political statement on the "rotation of power" and democratic practice. On the other, the MB's new supreme guide took office after internal elections in December 2009 -- the first in 14 years -- which exposed a rift within the organisation between hardliners and reformists. The vote was marred by accusations of wrongdoing from inside and outside the group, resulting in the resignation of Mohamed Habib, Akef's first deputy, who accused Akef and Mahmoud Ezzat -- champion of the hardliners -- of orchestrating a coup to purge the group of reformists. By mid-January Badie, a redoubtable hardliner, was elected. The rift, which made newspaper headlines, dented the Brotherhood's image. Badie faded into the background of this media hyped saga. Apart from many years spent in prison (throughout 1965, 1988 and 1999) little was known of his views. A surprise interview on "10 o'clock" -- the popular evening talk show on the privately owned Dream TV channel -- in April revealed an eloquent, patient and calculated spokesman who told his celebrity host, Mona El-Shazli, that he preferred to avoid the media as he defended the group and its December rift. Then Badie faded into the background as focus shifted to the group's semi-alliance with the then possible presidential candidate, Nobel Laureate Mohamed El-Baradei in June. He maintained a low profile until the 28 November parliamentary elections which resulted in a historic defeat to the group. It is not clear if the Brotherhood's bombshell decision on 1 December to pull out of the run-off polls in protest against "wide scale" rigging on behalf of the ruling National Democratic Party's candidates, was a collective one within the MB, or if it was influenced by Badie -- who announced it -- himself. On 23 December Reuters published an interview in which Badie said the Brotherhood would shift its strategy and "take to the streets" with the opposition. Despite the vagueness of Badie's political message the interview caused quite a stir. That someone who generally avoids the media chose to speak to an international news agency to convey a message that seemed to underline his position as a "hardliner" suggests that we may well be seeing, and hearing, a great deal more from Badie if, as he says, the Brotherhood does indeed escalate its dissent in 2011. Mohamed El-Baradei: From Saad Zaghloul to Tweet In February the former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency and Nobel Laureate arrived in Cairo from Vienna amid much media frenzy and speculation that he would run as a presidential candidate. The furore surrounding El-Baradei's return from Austria led some political and media quarters to make comparisons with the return of Saad Zaghloul, the nationalist leader under the British occupation -- from exile more than 80 years ago. A few days after his arrival in February political activists flocked to his villa on the outskirts of Cairo and announced the creation of the National Assembly for Change (NAC), with El-Baradei at the helm. The project soon started losing momentum, with many blaming El-Baradei's long periods of absence from Egypt, leading eventually to walkouts from the NAC's co-founders. During his brief stays in Egypt El-Baradei made "tours" of Cairo, Mansoura and Fayoum where he was met, especially outside the capital, with thousands of supporters. In the summer he visited Alexandria after a young man, Khaled Said, was beaten to death in the street by two police officers, triggering demonstrations in both Cairo and the Mediterranean city. El-Baradei forged an alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood after the group failed to win a single seat in the June Shura Council elections. In retaliation against what it called "government rigging" of the vote and security clampdowns on its members, the Muslim Brotherhood announced it would campaign in support of El-Baradei's "statement for change" which contained seven demands for political and constitutional reform and was eventually signed by a million Egyptians. The alliance, however, appeared to have been shelved when the Brotherhood decided to contest the 28 November elections which El-Baradei had called to be boycotted. After the group's dismal showing its leaders were quoted as saying they would realign themselves with opposition forces, El-Baradei included, a move pundits interpreted as symbolic and retaliatory rather than any meaningful political escalation against the regime. The ex-IAEA director remained in the background of the year's events, never emerging as an active force in the "struggle" for the changes he called for repeatedly, opting instead for posting messages in rather diplomatic language on the social media website Twitter. Ibrahim Eissa: Wiped out Ibrahim Eissa, outspoken journalist and founder of Al-Dostour newspaper, became officially unemployed in October when he lost not one, but two jobs: as chief editor of Al-Dostour and as the presenter of a current affairs programme broadcast by ON TV. Eissa was informed of his dismissal from the ON TV show by SMS. Although the channel initially issued a statement saying that Eissa had decided to resign, the owner of ON TV, businessman Naguib Sewiris, subsequently made it clear in an interview that Eissa had been fired. Weeks after leaving the show Eissa was fired from Al-Dostour newspaper, sacked by Reda Edward, the paper's owner. Since his dismissal the paper, which had been vociferous in its criticism of the regime, has changed beyond recognition. Being fired from Al-Dostour and ON TV effectively wiped Eissa from the media map during a contentious political. Over 15 years Eissa had emerged as a great survivor, seemingly unscathed by his skirmishes with the authorities and enjoying the backing of a small group of businessmen. But after he lost two positions in the same month his long-term supporters began to melt away. Hamdi Qandil: Media man turned politician It was a bad year for media celebrity turned political activist Hamdi Qandil. During the first quarter of 2010 Qandil joined Mohamed El-Baradei's National Assembly for Change (NAC) and became its media spokesman, writing fiery columns in the local press. By May he was being sued for libel by Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit after publishing a column on Egypt's foreign policy in the independent newspaper Al-Shorouk. The case was referred to the criminal court. In June Qandil resigned from his post as NAC spokesman without offering a public explanation though it was understood that, like other figures in the association, he was dismayed by the repeated absence from Egypt of Mohamed El-Baradei. Originally a well-known radio presenter Qandil's popularity surged when in 1998 he hosted the TV programme "Editor-in-Chief" on state-run Channel 2. It was a witty and often highly critical review of the Egyptian and Arab. The show -- which often attracted the censor's attention -- lasted until 2003 and the run up to the US-led invasion of Iraq. Qandil then moved to the United Arab Emirates and relaunched the programme on a Dubai satellite channel under the name " Qalam Rosas " (Pencil). The pan-Arab and highly politicised Qandil was forced to quit the show in 2008 after criticising Arab leaders and praising Hizbullah head Hassan Nasrallah. He briefly moved his show to a Libyan channel but after two months returned to Egypt and began writing in Al-Masry Al-Yom. Subsequently he left for Al-Shorouk though his association with the paper ended with Abul-Gheit's libel writ. El-Sayed El-Badawi: From dream to nightmare The year began well for El-Sayed El-Badawi. His election as chairman of the Wafd in May seemed to suggest that Egypt's oldest political party was on the cusp of a revival. His honeymoon with the media and public opinion was, however, brief. After buying Al-Dostour together with Coptic businessman and member of the Wafd's Higher Council Edward Reda, he repeatedly said the paper's editorial policy would not change. His reassurances proved to be false, and in October Al-Dostour 's firebrand chief editor, Ibrahim Eissa, was ousted. The move sparked speculation that El-Badawi had struck a deal with the regime and in return for removing one of its staunchest critics his party would be allowed greater representation in parliament. It was an impression that was reinforced when the Wafd turned a deaf ear to calls to boycott the People's Assembly poll. El-Badawi clearly thought the Wafd had a chance of winning a significant number of parliamentary seats, especially after it became clear that the Muslim Brotherhood was not going to repeat its election successes of 2005. In the first round of the elections, though, the Wafd secured just four seats. The party then decided to boycott the run- off poll though three of its members did win. All seven of the newly elected MPs had their membership of the party frozen after they refused to give up the seats they had won, leaving the Wafd in the same boat as the Muslim Brotherhood, without any representation in parliament. El-Badawi's subsequent announcement that the party would form a shadow government may have generated headlines but, most pundits agree, it is unlikely to do much else. Rifaat El-Said: Leftist woes There was little, if anything, in the last 12 months to cheer the chairman of the leftist Tagammu Party. What was a bad year reached a climax in the wake of the People's Assembly elections, when Rifaat El-Said's party managed to win just four seats. The dismal showing prompted many prominent members of the Tagammu to resign. El-Said, an appointed member of the Shura Council, was accused of lending legitimacy to the regime by his insistence on taking part in the polls. El-Said, who has often been criticised for moving closer to the regime, finally dropped the balls in his difficult juggling act. Aware that the way to secure the backing of the regime was to attack the Muslim Brotherhood, El-Said obliged, only to discover that he had lost the trust of the public. Notoriously stubborn, El-Said refused to listen to those within the Tagammu who advised him to lower the tone of his attacks. He turned a deaf ear to calls to reform the party, earning the ire of many party members who have repeatedly demanded a vote of no- confidence in his leadership of the party. Only by packing the party's executive secretariat with his supporters has El-Said managed to maintain his chairmanship seat. So tenacious has been his hold on power that members who resigned are now contemplating forming a new party which, they say, will be true to the Tagammu's roots.
