CAIRO, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Gamal Mubarak, the 43-year-old son of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, appears poised to become the "fourth pharoah" in a succession of modern rulers.
His father is 79 and has been in power for 27 years. Like his predecessors as president, Gamal Nasser and Anwar Sadat, Hosni Mubarak was an army officer.
Gamal Mubarak, who spent years working in London, must be acceptable to the army to succeed his father. But The Washington Post reported that he has already played a critical role in modernizing the economy.
Sayida Amin, a nanny in Cairo, told the Post that Egyptians "only know he's the president's son and he's imposed on us."
"We should give him the benefit of the doubt because he's going to come anyway," she said.
Salah Diab, a businessman, said that he would welcome Gamal Mubarak as president. But he also thinks that Egypt needs to end the cycle of presidents who leave only when they die.
"If he thinks he's coming to be the fourth pharaoh in a row, I don't think that's going to be acceptable to anyone," Diab told the Post.
