Mubarak's son remains mum on presidency

CAIRO, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Egypt's ruling party will choose its presidential candidate at a conference in July, said Gamal Mubarak, the son of President Hosni Mubarak.

Gamal Mubarak, 46, assistant secretary-general of the National Democratic Party, did not indicate whether he will run in next year's presidential elections, al-Masry al-Youm reported Tuesday.

He made the statements during a three-day party conference, where a date for the presidential elections was set for September, the newspaper said.

Amid rumors of failing health and reports of plans to groom his son for the position, Egypt's 82-year-old president has yet to announce whether he intends to run for a sixth term, the Egyptian daily said.

Mohammed ElBaradei, the former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, called Egypt's recent parliamentary elections "fraudulent and farcical," Ahram Online said Tuesday.

In an op-ed piece in the Washington Post published Sunday, ElBaradei described the country as a "ticking bomb dangerously close to exploding."

"The voices of dissent are growing in number. We come from many orientations, from different vocations, from different parts of society, from different faiths. But we speak with a single voice in seeking social justice," he wrote.

The parliament currently is dominated by the ruling NDP with very few seats for the opposition, which boycotted the recent elections, and the Coptic community has only three seats, he said. Legal rulings are ignored if they counter government interests, he said.