Mubarak Nominated for 2nd Term; Right-Wing Lawmakers Protest

President Hosni Mubarak on Monday accepted nomination for a second six-year term as Egypt’s leader, although some opposition right-wingers walked out of a special session of Parliament in protest.

The 59-year-old Egyptian leader easily captured the required two-thirds majority in Monday’s parliamentary vote and now faces a general referendum on Oct. 5. He is expected to be the sole candidate.

Mubarak’s nomination was approved by 420 votes in the 458-member assembly, Parliament Speaker Rifaat Mahgoub said.

But some members of the New Wafd Party left the session protesting that the nomination was undemocratic.

Mubarak told legislators that while he had said after his referendum election in 1981, following the assassination of President Anwar Sadat, that he would not seek another term, “I cannot refuse this great confidence.”

The assembly’s main opposition grouping of 61 members, led by the socialist Labor Party and Muslim Brotherhood, supported Mubarak but urged him to govern Egypt under strict Islamic Sharia laws.

Mubarak acknowledged their demands: “I’m aware of the people’s demands because I am part of the people,” he said, but added that any decisions on such proposals would only be taken after careful study.

“I cannot take hasty decisions,” he added.

Opposition group leader Ibrahim Shukri told the session that implementation of Sharia had become a “national demand.” He also called for the repeal of emergency laws imposed after Muslim fundamentalists assassinated Sadat.