Egypt president will quit in September.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak plans is announcing he will not run for reelection in September 2011. but he will not comply with protesters demands he resign immediately. US president Barack Obama had been urging Mubarak not to run. The Obama administration has been talking about a possible successor to Mubarak. The US has reached out to the hundreds of thousands of protesters determined to force Mubarak out.

This could be a good solution to the problem but it is likely the extremists in the protests will reject it, demand immediate resignation. This is unlikely to happen and that leaves open the policy of much more bloodshed. One problem is if Mubarak and his entire government quit, who would take over. There is no clear successor. No one opposition leader controls more than 5 or 10 percent of the people. There could be a civil war between Islamists, liberals, students, conservatives, and a dozen other groups.

The elections are in 7 months. The Us and other countries should focus on pressing for fair elections in September. It would take that long to organize elections. If Mubarak is forced out now the army would take control. Keeping Mubarak with maybe an opposition leader as prime minister could be the best solution to avoid more bloodshed.