Mohamed Mamdouh, head of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP)'s youth committee, described himself this week as the “chairman” of the campaign in support of a presidential bid by Gamal Mubarak, son of President Hosni Mubarak, in next year's elections. He went on to stress, however, that the ruling party was "not involved" in the campaign or in any other electoral campaigns. The initiative, which has been denounced by much of Egypt's political opposition, aims to collect five million signatures in support of a Gamal Mubarak candidacy. At a recent conference in Qalyubiya, Mamdouh could be seen sitting in front of an enormous banner bearing an image of the younger Mubarak. Campaign coordinator Ahmed Belal, for his part, said he had already managed to collect some 200,000 signatures from five different Egyptian governorates. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
