A previously unknown group of activists in Egypt is putting up posters and collecting signatures urging Gamal Mubarak, the son and presumed successor of the country’s leader, to stand for president in next year’s election.
The campaign appears to be a trial balloon to test support for the younger Mr Mubarak amid general unease about the prospect of a dynastic succession.
But the self-styled Popular Coalition for the Support of Gamal Mubarak says its campaign is a citizens’ initiative with no support from the man it seeks to elevate, who has often denied any presidential ambitions.
In Cairo’s working-class area of Bab el-She’reyya, near the imposing stone walls surrounding the old Islamic heart of the city, the campaign has splashed dozens of posters carrying pictures of Gamal on the white tiles outside a café.
“Gamal Mubarak is a smart politician,” said Magdy el-Kordy, the co-ordinator of the campaign. “He feels the pulse of the people. We have launched the motto, ‘Gamal Mubarak, the hope of the poor’.”
This campaign has been accompanied by another proclaiming support for General Omar Suleiman, the intelligence chief and another possible contender for the succession. Both have deepened the country’s sense of uncertainty.
Hosni Mubarak, the 82-year-old president who has been in power since 1981, underwent gall bladder surgery in Germany in March. His absence for several weeks revived talk of his presumed plans for Gamal to succeed him. The elder Mr Mubarak has not yet indicated whether he will contest presidential elections due next year.
“We feel that the era of Hosni Mubarak is about to end, even if it is not necessarily next year,” said Mostapha Kamel el-Sayed, a political analyst. “We are not sure of the succession, or of how the political scene will evolve.”
He believes the poster campaigns are a possible sign of a division within the ruling National Democratic party over whether Gamal should be the next leader.
The posters promoting Gen Suleiman labelled him “the alternative”. In a statement issued online and presumed to be from the anonymous activists, they appealed to Egypt’s “honourable army” to save the country from “the shame and disgrace of the succession which the president’s son seeks”.
The posters were taken down within hours by the authorities, who also banned newspapers from reporting on them.
Gen Suleiman, 74, has never expressed an interest in being president and he is not thought to be behind the poster campaign.
Business leaders are reluctant to speak openly about a subject as sensitive as the succession, but some say the uncertainties weigh on them. “If I tell you I don’t worry about it, I would be lying,” said Magdi Tolba, a garments manufacturer. “President Mubarak has brought stability for thirty years. If he ensured a good choice of person to follow him, it would complete his legacy.”
Constitutional changes adopted in 2007 in effect bar independent candidates from running for president. Critics say these measures were designed to ensure victory for the ruling party’s candidate. The largest opposition force in the country is the banned Muslim Brotherhood, whose candidates run as independents.
Decades of authoritarian rule have alienated many Egyptians from politics. Poverty, poor education and restrictions on party political activity conspire to marginalise huge swathes of society.