EGYPT - Oct 31 - Egypt To Amend Rules On Mubarak Successor-By William Wallis In Cairo.

As part of a raft of constitutional changes, Egypt's parliament will amend the rules governing who will succeed President Hosni Mubarak to make it easier for opposition parties to run candidates, said Fathi Sorour, the parliament's speaker. Without an amendment to article 76 of Egypt's constitution, the ruling National Democratic party would be able to choose the future president unchallenged. Weakened by years of authoritarian rule and electoral fraud, in last year's parliamentary elections none of the officially sanctioned liberal and leftist opposition parties won the 5 per cent of seats needed to contest the presidency. But some government officials and NDP members have recognised that without at least a show of a contest, whoever succeeds the ageing president, will struggle to establish legitimacy both at home and abroad. President Mubarak told NDP members of parliament on Monday that article 76 will be amended. "The goal is to allow political parties to put forward candidates so that any future presidential election will have more than one candidate", said Mohamed Kamal, a professor of political science and member of the NDP general secretariat. During his 25 year rule Mubarak has resisted appointing a vice president as an obvious successor. Were he to die in office, the speaker would take charge while presidential elections are organised. The succession issue has become more vexed since Mubarak lifted the lid on it with a preliminary constitutional change last year which allowed a show of a contest in presidential elections. Opposition activists are wary of further constitutional changes that might smooth the path to the presidency of Gamal Mubarak, his 42-year old son. The younger Mubarak has denied harbouring presidential ambitions. But, the authoritarian nature of his father's rule has discouraged other potential candidates from coming forward. Many Egyptians assume that Gamal Mubarak's increasingly prominent role in the NDP - he is assistant secretary general - is a sign that he is being groomed. The main threat to the NDP's hegemony is not so much from officially sanctioned opposition parties, who would be able to compete in future presidential elections, but from the banned Muslim Brotherhood, the most influential Islamist group. The Brotherhood won a record 66 of 444 seats in parliament last year, by presenting independents as candidates in only a third of constituencies. Any changes to the constitution are unlikely however to make it possible for independent Brotherhood candidates to compete for the presidency. Kamal said, however, that as many as 30 articles would be amended in the parliamentary session which begins next week, before an amended constitution is put to a referendum some time next year.