Gamal Mubarak

Gamal Mubarak ( _ar. جمال مبارك), or Gamal El Deen Muhammad Hosni Sayed Mubarak ( _ar. جمال الدين محمد حسنى سيد مبارك), born 1963, is the younger of the two sons of current Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak (the First Lady). In contrast to his older brother Alaa, Gamal has pursued an active public profile and is starting to wield some influence on political life in the country. He is widely believed, both inside and outside of Egypt, to be the Egyptian regime's current choice as the eventual successor of his father Hosni Mubarak.

Early Experiences

Gamal Mubarak attended Saint Georges College for his early education until he was eighteen years old, before attending the AUC.

Gamal Mubarak graduated from the American University in Cairo with a Business Degree. He currently holds an MBA from the American University in Cairo as well. He started working for the Bank of America at its branch in Egypt. He was then transferred to the London branch ultimately becoming one of its executives. He worked mainly in the field of investment banking.

Gamal Mubarak branched out with a few colleagues to set up Medinvest Associates Ltd., which manages a private equity fund, and to do some corporate finance consultancy work [http://www.winne.com/topinterviews/gamal.htm] . He is also the Chairman of the Future Generation Foundation (FGF), an NGO dedicated to job training.

He is also an honorary member of Rotary clubs, which was awarded to him in May 2000 by Rotary International president Frank Devlyn [http://www.frankdevlyn.org/galleries/Egypt/egypt6.jpg] .

He is married (28.4.2007) to an American University (in Cairo) graduate, Khadiga El Gammal, the daughter of Egyptian businessman Mahmoud El Gammal. His wedding cermonies took place in Sharm El-Sheikh May 4, 2007.

In the National Democratic Party

He was nominated by his father in 2002 to become the General Secretary of the Policy Committee: the third most powerful position in the party and the starting point for most of the government’s actions. The National Democratic Party (NDP) holds a sweeping majority of seats in parliament.

After the July 2004 cabinet shuffle and the appointment of Dr. Ahmed Nazif as the new Prime Minister of Egypt, the cabinet was named "Gamal's cabinet", as most of the new ministers were chosen from the policy committee of the NDP.

Inheritance of Power

The grooming of Gamal Mubarak to be his father's successor as the next president of Egypt became increasingly evident at around the year 2000. With no heir-apparent in sight, Gamal started enjoying considerable attention in the Egyptian media. Bashar al-Asad's rise to the throne in June 2000 just hours after Hafez al-Asad's death, sparked a heated debate in the Egyptian press regarding the prospects for the same scenario taking place in Cairo. [http://www.meforum.org/article/27]

Both Mubarak and his son have denied the possibility of any inheritance of power in Egypt, although this is widely speculated. Latest this was made clear in early 2006, where Gamal Mubarak declared repeatedly that he has no aspiration to succeed his father, but will maintain his position in the NDP as deputy secretary general, a post he holds in addition to heading the party's policies committee, probably the most important organ within the NDP [http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/egypt/?id=16096] .

The elder Mubarak's advancing age has made the question of succession more pertinent, but this problem appears to have been postponed until 2011 with Hosni Mubarak's September 2005 election win. That said, the succession issue continues to remain a pressing one given the importance of Egypt in the Arab world and President Mubarak's advancing age. Other prominent and powerful figures in Egypt's top echelon are Omar Suleiman Chief of General Intelligence and Defence Minister Tantawi, both of whom in their 70's.

In September 2004 several political groups (most are unofficial), on both the left and the right, announced their sharp opposition to the inheritance of power. They demanded political change and asked for a fair election with more than one candidate [http://mengos.net/events/04newsevents/egypt/september/9september04.htm] .

On February 26, 2005, Mubarak ordered the constitution changed to allow multi-candidate presidential elections before September 2005 by asking parliament to amend Article 76 of the Egyptian constitution. This change in the constitution is seen by some analysts as a ploy to seamlessly allow Gamal Mubarak to inherit the top position in Egypt. The view is that Gamal Mubarak would be one of the candidates in a coming presidential elections and would enjoy full backing from the ruling party and the government-controlled media. The other serious candidates would be disqualified by the NDP-controlled People's Assembly leaving the less popular candidates. Thus, the inheritance of power would be done in a "democratic" way.

Despite widespread opposition to hereditary succession, some few supporters are claiming it could be the only way to give the country its first civilian president, ending more than 50 years of the army's monopoly over the country's top executive job, ever since the military coup of 1952 that overthrew the monarchy in 1953, but opposition prefers other popular civilians.

External links

* Daniel Sobelman, "Gamal Mubarak: Next President of Egypt?", Middle East Quarterly, Spring 2001
* [http://ndp.org.eg/ National Democratic Party]
* [http://web.amnesty.org/report2005/egy-summary-eng Amnesty International's 2005 Report on Egypt]
* BBC: [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3646026.stm "Mubarak son raises public profile"] , September 10, 2004.
* MSNBC: [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5529166/ "Stage set for political dynasty in Egypt?"] , July 28, 2004.
* [http://www.memritv.org/Transcript.asp?P1=1274 Egypt Has a Right to Nuclear Energy for Peacful Purposes. Nuclear Energy - a Possible Alternative in the Future] 9/20/2006