Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Wednesday that it was unnecessary and not obligatory for Egypt to set up the post of vice president according to the Egyptian constitution.

Mubarak made his remarks in an interview with the Cairo-based daily newspaper Al-Masai published in the day.

According to the Egyptian constitution, the post of vice president is not obligatory, said Mubarak, citing that the majority of republican regimes in the world are void of such post.

He said such post would lead to conflicts that might stumble the process of national action.

Mubarak said that it was not right to follow the U.S. example because the U.S. has no post of prime minister.

The U.S. president, as head of the executive authority, therefore gives the vice president some authorities that are usually given to the prime minister in countries where there is no vice president, said Mubarak.

Mubarak, 78, has been in power since 1981 and was re-elected as Egyptian President in September of 2005 for six more years.

Also in the interview, Mubarak urged the Egyptian media to correct themselves and stick to commitment and objectivity, saying "our culture is not that of insults or defamation".

Mubarak said that he was responsible to protect the freedom of the press and provide favorable atmosphere for the press to play its right role as the society's fourth authority.

"I am responsible at the same time for protecting the civil rights and dignity of the citizens," Mubarak said, adding that he could never have accepted the imprisonment of journalists.

Mubarak has demanded the deletion of article 303 of the criminal law in the newly-approved press law, which entails imprisonment for journalists involved in financial integrity libel cases, according to the official MENA news agency.

Source: Xinhua