The player

For the position: President of Egypt

Age: 45 (born 1963)

Parents: President Hosni Mubarak and Suzanne Mubarak

Wife: Khadiga El Gammal

Education: BA and MBA from the American University in Cairo.

Net worth: "Gamal Mubarak is worth quite a lot of money from his days in the business world. It’s impossible to say what he’s worth exactly, but it’s probably in the millions." – Emad Gad of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. 

CAIRO, Egypt — Standing there at the border with Gaza, flanked by security, Gamal Mubarak spoke to reporters. Bombs could be heard thudding loudly just over the security fence as Mubarak’s crew cast nervous eyes to the sky.

But in the midst of the melee with the watchful eye of CNN cameras focused on him, Mubarak exuded calm, speaking steadily and forcefully about the war and about Egypt’s efforts to get aid across the border.

That encounter created some buzz on the Egyptian street. Many here needed to see the man who might be their next president, ending almost 60 years of military rulers, showing some grit, even if it was for the American cameras.

Unlike the last three presidents — Hosni Mubarak, Anwar Sadat and Gamal Abdel Nasser — Gamal Mubarak has spent most of his life in a position of wealth and power. Egyptians are fond of saying that he doesn’t know what it’s like to wait in traffic. And if you have ever spent a day in the heat and frustration of Cairo traffic you would understand how searing an experience that is.

After completing college at the prestigious American University of Cairo, Mubarak showed few signs that he would one day return to politics. Instead, he leapt into the world of finance, working first for Bank of America in Egypt. After working in London for a time, Mubarak began his own private equity fund, MedInvest.

An avid soccer fan, and reportedly an excellent player, he has traveled with Egyptian teams to Europe. Those who have played with him and his brother, Alaa, have described him as a humble, modest guy who demands no extra attention on the pitch in spite of who he is.

In 2000, Mubarak moved back to Egypt and got involved in politics. He moved quickly through the ranks, rising to head the National Democratic Party’s (NDP) policy committee. It’s not a job that garners much attention but it carries tremendous weight within the bureaucratic structure of the government.

Though he frequently denies interest in the presidency, Mubarak seems to be deftly ironing out any bumps in his path to power. In 2005, the NDP amended the constitution to, for the first time, allow multi-party presidential elections.

At the same time, the newly amended Article 76 requires that parties garner 250 signatures in Parliament to field a candidate. No party other than the NDP can come close to reaching this threshold. Government critics believe this means that the next presidential elections, in 2011, will include no candidates outside the NDP.

“I think that the NDP will nominate Gamal Mubarak for President,” said Emad Gad, a scholar at the Ahram Center, a leading Egyptian research institute. “If he will be president, he must become president in [Hosni] Mubarak’s lifetime. I think if [Hosni] Mubarak dies, he will not be nominated.”

Hosni Mubarak may be his son’s best chance of assuming the presidency because, analysts suggest, the military is suspicious of any new president not chosen from their ranks.

“I think Gamal Mubarak will not be elected because the army will not pick any person outside their institution,” said Amr Hashem, also of the Ahram Center.

Hosni Mubarak, who long served in the Egyptian air force and is fiercely respected by the military, will have to use his weight to give his son any hope of taking over, Hashem believes.

The vice presidency has traditionally been a stepping-stone to the presidency, but Mubarak is the first president since the beginning of the Republic not to appoint one. This has further fueled rumors that he is subtly trying to move his son closer to the office.

While it’s unclear what overtures, if any, Gamal Mubarak has made to the military, it is clear that his low profile and lack of charisma have done little to endear him to the public. The move to a hereditary presidency would be seen by many here as another nail in the coffin of democracy.

Though he seems to have handled the bureaucratic issues surrounding his ascent, Mubarak still has two formidable and skeptical constituencies to face on his road to the presidency: the military and the public.

Recent appearances on American television indicate that he is working at impressing both: 

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