A campaign in support of a presidential bid by Gamal Mubarak, the 47-year-old son of President Hosni Mubarak, has printed up some 1.2 million petitions for gathering citizen’s signatures, according to campaign director Marwa Hodhod.
Taking the motto “Egypt looks forward to a new beginning,” the campaign–officially known as the “Popular Movement for the Support of a Gamal Mubarak Presidency”–recently announced the establishment of a new branch in the Nile Delta city of Damietta. The new branch has reportedly been dubbed the “Popular Coalition for the Honored People of Damietta in Support of Gamal Mubarak against Interlopers,” in a not-so-subtle jab at would-be presidential nominee Mohamed ElBaradei, whose supporters have been waging their own signature-collecting campaign for the past several months.
The pro-Gamal campaign has also inaugurated a new branch in the city of Mashtoul al-Souq in the Sharqiya Governorate. Mohamed Salah, campaign coordinator in Mashtoul al-Souq, said he inaugurated the new branch because of his “opposition to those who compete with Gamal Mubarak and want to impose their own ideas on Egyptian society.”
According to Ahmed al-Menshawi, the campaign’s general coordinator in Sharqiya, a conference is being convened next Friday aimed at introducing the public to the campaign’s political platform.
The pro-Gamal campaign has further announced the establishment of a new branch in Kuwait. Campaign coordinator Khaled Mostafa said he has begun coordinating with Upper Egyptian and Nubian communities and associations in Kuwait in hopes of gathering signatures in support of the younger Mubarak. Mostafa noted that the search for a suitable campaign headquarters in Kuwait was ongoing.
According to campaign leader Ebeida Mohamed Ahmed, the pro-Gamal campaign is still in the process of registering itself as a non-governmental organization. “The role of our campaign will not stop after Gamal Mubarak is nominated for the presidency,” she said. “It will also support him and follow up on his presidential program.”
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
