"President Hosni Mubarak expressed hope Saturday that Iraq's elections will be held on schedule but said all Iraqis need to participate to avoid further violence in the war-ravaged state. However, Mubarak, this country's sole ruler since 1981, sidestepped questions on whether he would support constitutional changes to loosen his own grip on power."
heh... last I knew, he also refuses to name his successor. To maintain his grip, he will take the usual road in Egyptian politics -- launch a war against Israel, within a year or two. The way to avoid that is to improve the Egyptian economy. His irrigation projects have been ambitious, but poorly thought out, as was the Aswan High Dam.