Rome: Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's 82-year-old President, has dodged a question on who his successor might be, saying only God could decide who would lead the Arab world's most populous nation following his 29-year rule.
Uncertainty over Egypt's political future is intensifying ahead of presidential polls next year. Mubarak, who took power in 1981, has not said whether he will run for a sixth term in presidential polls next year, but if he does not many Egyptians assume his 46-year-old son Jamal would be a top contender.
Mubarak, whose health has been in question since recent surgery in Germany, appeared taken aback by a question from a journalist during a recent press conference next to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
"Who knows? Who knows? Only God knows who will be my successor," he said in English when he was asked who would prefer as a successor. When the reporter repeated his question, he pointed to the sky and replied: "Whoever God prefers, I prefer."
"That's a nice question though," he added, smiling.
It was an echo of an exchange in March when, during a visit to Germany, Mubarak bristled when a reporter asked whether Mohammad Al Baradei, the former boss of the UN nuclear agency who has said he might run for president, was an Egyptian hero.
"We do not need a national hero, here or there," Mubarak had replied.
Posing such a question directly to the president would be striking in Egypt, where despite increased press freedoms in recent years, media self-censorship is widespread and reporters would be unlikely to ask Mubarak such a direct question.
