Hosni Mubarak's move to allow for a competitive election to succeed him as Egypt's president has thrust open a long-closed door for an opposition caught unprepared after years of autocratic rule. | Wotta surprise. |
"The leading political figures who might have challenged Mubarak, the ruler since 1981, have slipped into oblivion or retirement. Others were simply
Polled for the second time in six months on the Web site of the popular talk show "Al-Qahira Al-Yom" (Cairo Today), Egyptians picked Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa as their favorite to succeed Mubarak. A dyed-in-the-wool supporter of the Palestinian cause, the former foreign minister's popularity culminated at the height of the intifada with the release of the hit single "I hate Israel, I love Amr Moussa" before being sidelined as the head of the largely toothless pan-Arab body.
Sayyed Badawi, the secretary general of the Wafd party, sees the president's move as a way of lending a veneer of legitimacy to what many see as growing efforts by Mubarak to groom his son Gamal, 42, for succession. Gamal Mubarak heads the influential policies committee of his father's National Democratic Party, but both have vehemently denied any attempt to impose a hereditary presidency. "Egypt will witness in the coming months a period a great political agitation, because Mubarak's decision has fanned the ambitions of many figures who had so far been excluded," Badawi said. "But whatever the remaining flaws may be, the people will regain its democratic culture over the six years of the next presidential mandate and will then be really ready to freely choose its executive."