This was a risk the government press preferred not to take. The newspaper that led the opposition attack against the succession in Syria was Al-Wafd , the organ of Egypt's largest opposition party, which has a secular nationalist orientation. Al-Wafd 's columnists were merciless in their writings on this issue. One columnist compared the Syrian succession to the cloning of the sheep Dolly. All of that is gone with the wind.
Monarchic rule is back in republican guise.
For Egyptian readers it was clear that the subtext of the discussion of Bashar's succession was the possibility of Gamal Mubarak's succession. They relied on Mubarak's recent interview to the Spanish newspaper El Pais as a proof that there is no possibility for such a succession in Egypt. Egypt is a republic and we are not like other countries in the region. I cannot determine who my successor will be according to my whim. The constitution establishes that if the President is not reelected, at least one third of the MP's should present another candidate.