AfricaNews political desk with files from Reuters
The media head of the ruling National Democratic Party Ali El Din Hillal has revealed that Egyptian 82-year-old President Hosni Mubarak would run for another term of office next year. Hillal said the formal nomination process would not take place until a month or two before the polls. Mubarak has been in power since 1981.
"The NDP's candidate for the coming presidential elections is President Hosni Mubarak," Hillal told Reuters. "This is the will of all the leadership of the party."
Hillal suggested, in comments to a talk show broadcast earlier on Thursday by a U.S.-based Arabic channel, that the election could be held in October. But he would not confirm that date when speaking to Reuters.
Local pundits have it that if Mubarak refuses to go for a sixth term his son Gamal, 46, could run, or possibly another candidate with a military background.
Rumours about Mubarak's health, fuelled by his gallbladder surgery in Germany in March, have added to the debate about whether he will stay in office. Since his surgery, the president has resumed a regular schedule of meetings and foreign trips.
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