Gamal Mubarak, Egypt's rising strongman and heir apparent to his father's presidential throne, promised to rejuvenate parliament as he launched the ruling party's legislative election campaign in Cairo.
"The Egyptian parliament will embody the future, inshallah (God willing)," he said Saturday at a gathering in front of Cairo's Abdeen presidential palace for the presentation of the National Democratic Party's (NDP) Cairo candidates.
The 42-year-old, who chose not to contest the November polls himself, stole the show once again.
But nearly two months after 77-year-old Hosni Mubarak swept to a fifth six-year term, the party's young technocrats and official caciques are working hand in glove to secure another electoral victory for the NDP.
Party apparatchiks filled the front rows, backed by some 2,000 supporters - most of them bused from the various constituencies - singing the praises of their leaders.
The parliamentary elections are due to kick off on November 9 and will last a month, as polling will be divided in three successive geographical phases.
The first wave will include the Cairo region, where 523 candidates are contesting the capital's 48 seats. The NDP currently controls 404 out of the 454 seats in the house.
Egypt's parliament became a largely toothless institution when an autocratic regime was established half a century ago, but the elections are a backdrop for the NDP's own internal reforms and the opposition's efforts to unite.