News on start of campaign for Mubarak's fifth term of office

The Egyptian ruling "National Party" continued preparations for convening its second annual conference on Tuesday. A conference which is said will contain a repeat of the same reform subjects that the party advocated in its last year's conference.

Egyptian party circles disclosed attempts by certain leading figures of the party to make use of the occasion to inaugurate a campaign to collect signatures to nominate the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for a fifth new term of office after the end of his current term of office in October 2005. A matter which is strongly opposed by a group of civil society activists and illegal parties which started last week a campaign under the title " No for a new term of office.. no for inheritance" in reference to Mubarak's son Jamal being mentioned as a potential next president.

Sources at the "National Party" denied that "nomination of Mubarak for a new term of office" to be on the agenda of the congress but did not rule out this subject to be discussed inside the conference" because the conference is concerned with studying the preparedness of the party for the next parliamentary elections due to be held in November 2005. And it is evident to deal with the question of presidency and means of dealing with it, even unofficially."

According to sources in the party, the inaugural session will focus on the achievements in the first year. Jamal Mubarak will submit a report on the plan "of the difficult year 2005." One session of the conference will be on citizenship and democracy. It is headed by the prime minister Ahmad Nazif, while President Hosni Mubarak will deliver a speech in the final session.

Observers consider that these titles (for the covered subjects) which are literally copied from slogans of last year, have nothing new in them.

The relation between the ruling party to the opposition parties is almost one of the main items on the conference's agenda. The sources indicated that the conference is inclined to issue a political document dealing with political reforms steps and border demarcation of the relation between the opposition parties and the national party.