CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt's president gave the first indication on Saturday he was preparing an eventual handover of power by naming a vice-president for the first time in 30 years after protests that have rocked the foundations of the state.
Hosni Mubarak's decision to pick Omar Suleiman, his intelligence chief and confidant, as his No. 2 is the first time the 82-year-old leader has hinted at a succession plan and may suggest he will not run in an election scheduled for September.
Whether he can hold on to power until then, however, remained in question. Many believe the army holds the key.
Until five days of unprecedented scenes of popular defiance and chaos broke out across the country, officials had suggested Mubarak would run again. If not him, many Egyptians believed, his son, Gamal, 47, might run. This now seems impossible.
Suleiman, 74, has long been central in key policy areas, including the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, an issue vital to Egypt's relationship with key aid donor the United States.
Some protesters, whose actions forced Mubarak to send the army onto the streets of the most populous Arab nation, were not happy with a decision that looks set to ensure power stays in the hands of military and security institutions.
"He is just like Mubarak, there is no change," a protester told Reuters outside the Interior Ministry, where thousands were protesting, moments after the appointment.
The appointment as prime minister of Ahmad Shafiq -- who is, like Mubarak himself, a former commander of the air force -- also indicated a preference for responding to public demands for change with limited changes in personnel. Mubarak's decision on Friday to sack the government failed to impress protesters.
The speaker of parliament was later quoted as saying that there were no plans to meet demands for early elections.