Hosni Mubarak to seek sixth term: party official

Egypt's octogenarian President Hosni Mubarak, in power for 30 years and whose health has raised questions, is to run for re-election in 2011, a high-ranking ruling party official said yesterday.
"The candidate of the National Democratic Party (NDP) will be President Mohammed Hosni Mubarak. At that moment, the candidate will be Mohammed Hosni Mubarak," Ali El Din Hilal said in an interview broadcast by Arabic-language US satellite TV channel Alhurra.
"The candidate of the National Democratic Party in October next year, God willing, will be President Mohammed Hosni Mubarak," Hilal repeated.
Hilal, who is in charge of communications for the NDP, later told AFP the president's candidacy was in keeping with "the will of the leadership" of the ruling party.
"He is our nominee for the presidency" in the next election, said the senior official, without elaborating, although the NDP has stressed in the past that a candidate would not be decided before the end of this year.
Mubarak, 82, has never stated whether he will run for what would be a sixth six-year term.
Political observers question whether he is up to the task, particularly after he underwent surgery in March to have his gall bladder and a duodenal polyp removed.
There has been widespread speculation that his son, Gamal, will be put forward as his potential successor.