Egypt has been awash with rumour this week over who will be the country's next president. Hosni Mubarak, the 81-year-old current leader, has not ruled out running for yet another term.

It is been increasingly suggested that his son Gamal Mubarak will stand if his father does not in the next election.

Both men have been speaking at the annual convention of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).

The meeting lays out party policy in the run up to next year's general election. But all eyes are on investment banker and rising star Gamal Mubarak, amid speculation that he is being groomed to succeed his father.
 
Both father and son have denied the suggestions, but Gamal heads the policies committee, one of the most powerful bodies in Egypt, and his public profile has been steadily growing. 

So who will be Egypt's next president and what will this mean for the future of the country?
 
Inside Story, with presenter Shiulie Ghosh, discusses with guests Maged Reda Botros, a member of the policies committee for the ruling National Democratic Party, Essam el-Erian, a leading member of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and a former member of the Egyptian parliament, and Hady Amr, the director of the Brookings Institute in Doha.

This episode of Inside Story aired from Monday, November 2, 2009.