AHMED Fathi Sorour, the Speaker of the Egyptian People's Assembly (the Lower House of Parliament), said Monday that Gamal Mubarak (pictured right), the younger son of President Hosni Mubarak, running for the country's top spot was nothing but rumours fuelled by opposition newspapers. "It's still very early to declare the candidate of the (ruling) National Democratic Party [NDP] in the presidential elections," Sorour told the BBC Arabic service. In the US or any other country across the world, the presidential candidate's name is unveiled only at the beginning of the electoral year, according to the top lawmaker. "Sure, there will be no political vacuum in Egypt. Although I do not know if President Mubarak will run or not, I believe there will be great personalities running for the post," Sorour stated. Egypt's next presidential election is scheduled for 2011, and many opponents believe that Mubarak (pictured left), 81, is grooming Gamal, 45, for the job, though both men have repeatedly denied such rumours. "This [succession] was never raised between me and my son. It is not on my mind to have my son succeed me. ... It is the people's decision to elect who will represent them. It is not for me to decide that," President Mubarak said in an interview with a US TV network last August. Mohamed el-Baradei, the former chief of the UN's nuclear watchdog, had announced that he could run for Egypt's presidency on the condition that the Constitution was changed and free elections were guaranteed. However, the plans of el-Baradei, a 2005 Nobel Prize laureate, incited controversy among NDP officials and some opposition parties on the grounds that he has lived for a long time abroad and does not have a good idea of Egyptians concerns. Incumbent Arab League Chief of Amr Moussa had said he could consider running for the post, before he retreated. Some other opposition figure, including Ayman Nour, the former chief of the Ghad (tomorrow) Party, who came far second to Mubarak in the first Egyptian competitive presidential elections in 2005, have announced that they will run for the post.
