2010-03-27
CAIRO (Reuters) - Hundreds of worshippers greeted potential Egyptian presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei when he attended midday prayers at a Cairo mosque in his first public appearance since returning home to much fanfare in February.

Worshippers and bystanders rushed to accompany ElBaradei to the 800-year-old al-Hussein mosque in the capital's historic Islamic district for Friday prayers, with many chanting "Long live Egypt" and "You are our hope".

Prior to the mosque visit he had not made a public appearance, instead hosting opposition leaders and academics and giving media interviews at his house on Cairo's outskirts.

ElBaradei's return to Egypt after 12 years as head of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has energised the country's calcified political scene, weakened by decades of autocratic rule under President Hosni Mubarak.

Around a thousand supporters met ElBaradei on his return to Egypt last month, but he left the airport without addressing the crowd, which had become unruly.

Mubarak, who is in Germany recovering from a March 6 surgery, has not said whether he plans to run for a sixth six-year term in a presidential election due in 2011. If he does not, many Egyptians believe he will try to hand power to his son Gamal. Both father and son deny such plans.

UNCERTAINTY

The president's prolonged absence from the country for medical reasons has focused attention on who might succeed him and whether they would continue the government's economic liberalisation programme.

Allies of Gamal Mubarak in the cabinet hold key economic portfolios.

Egypt's stock market fell sharply in the days after the president's operation, before steadying when images of him sitting and chatting with doctors were broadcast.

ElBaradei has said he would consider a presidential bid if certain demands are met, including constitutional changes to limit power, judicial supervision of the vote and equal media coverage of all candidates.

Political analysts say the chances of securing such changes by next year are remote, while any presidential bid faces a huge challenge in the most populous Arab country as rules make it almost impossible for anyone to succeed without the backing of Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party, which dominates parliament.

Egypt experimented with its first multi-candidate presidential election in 2005 that it touted as a process of democratisation, but which critics panned as a sham.