NDP official addresses issue of presidential succession

The pro-government newspaper Al-Ahram published an exclusive interview with Ahmed Fathi Surur, speaker of the Egyptian parliament and secretary general of the NDP, where Surur addressed long-standing speculation on the succession of power after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, AKI reported yesterday.

It appears that Mubarak senior has been preparing his son Gamal to follow him, but as Surur reiterated, “Egypt's political system is democratic and does not recognize the hereditary passage of power and the possibility of any citizen to stand as a candidate for election is constitutionally guaranteed.”

This is just one of many issues up for discussion in Egypt after the national assembly approved a request from Mubarak to amend 34 controversial articles of the constitution last month. These reforms truly worry most civilian Egyptians, since they consider the constitutional amendments and ad hoc laws, set in motion by Mubarak, only meant to sustain power irrespective of any popular endorsement or legitimacy. Despite this widely-held sentiment, Surur said that “the amendments to the Constitution seek to facilitate the democratic process and the participation of all parties in the political life of the country”.

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