Muhammad Hosni Said Mubarak (born May 4, 1928) commonly known as Hosni Mubarak has been the President of Egypt since 14 October 1981.
Mubarak was appointed the Vice-President of the Republic of Egypt after moving up the ranks of the Egyptian Air Force. He ascended to the Presidency, succeeding President Anwar Sadat, following the latter's assassination on 6 October 1981.
As President of Egypt, he is considered to be one of the most powerful leaders in the region. Under the 1971 Constitution of Egypt, President Mubarak has exercised strong control over the country.
President Mubarak has been re-elected by majority votes in referenda for successive terms on four occasions: in 1987, 1993, 1999 and 2005. The results of the referenda are of questionable validity. No one runs against the President due to a restriction in the Egyptian Constitution in which the People's Assembly plays the main role in electing the President of the Republic. However in February 2005 Mubarak passed a constitutional amendment allowing parties directly running against the incumbent president. As expected, he was re-elected.
In July 2004, Mubarak accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Atef Ebeid and the entire cabinet. Mubarak appointed Ahmed Nazif as the new Prime Minister. The new cabinet is generally viewed with optimism, and economic conditions are starting to improve considerably after a period of stagnation. The new cabinet headed by Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif was somewhat successful in overcoming the grim economic situation. The Egyptian stock market came in first place out of all emerging markets in terms of percentage increase for the fiscal year 2004/2005.
