Can a new president bring economic stability?

Fifteen months ago Tahrir Square was the site of a tsunami that swept President Hosni Mubarak and his entire government from office.

In the most populous country in the Middle East and North Africa, only the military apparatus has been left intact from the Mubarak era. The world is getting very familiar with the name and face of Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of Egypt's ruling military council.

This week marks a historic opportunity to break from that past. There are a dozen candidates vying for the top job, a third of them labelled as front runners.

In geo-political circles, Egypt is described as a pivotal power, an emerging market economy and potential political power that can sway the outcome in the region.

In Goldman Sachs’ emerging market world, leading economist and strategist Jim O’Neill has Egypt in his grouping of Next-11 countries, those that offer a combination of a large population size, a young educated workforce and a strategic geographical position.

There is a long list of multinationals that have planted their flag in Egypt - global banks like Citigroup, global retailers like Carrefour, global telecom operators like Vodafone.

One could not skirt a market of this size, especially with trade agreements or preferential treatment for its goods into the European Union, the U.S., the Middle East and Africa.

But the vital question at this juncture is: Will they be convinced to invest more in the future? That is the wild card at play and it does not only revolve around who takes the job as president.

Investment plunged after the revolution early last year, with businesses taking nearly a half billion dollars out of the country, a sharp U-turn from the $6.4 billion of inflows the year before. Foreign direct investment, according to United Nations figures, hit a record $14 billion in 2007-2008 and the country garnered nearly $50 billion in the five years before the revolution.