CAIRO: Twenty-seven percent of Egyptians have said that a Muslim Brotherhood majority in parliament “would be a good thing,” according to a poll by Newsweek and Daily Beast conducted by Douglas E. Schoen LLC and Thawra Stats.
The poll which encompassed 1,008 randomly selected Egyptian adults from 19 Egyptian governorates between June 24 to July 4, surveyed Egyptians’ opinions on a variety on issues from Israeli relations to the upcoming president.
On the parliamentary elections, which is tentatively scheduled to take place the coming November, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party scored a plurality of support at 17 percent.
Thirty-five percent of the poll’s respondents said that a Muslim Brotherhood majority would be a bad thing while 38 percent weren’t sure.
Liberal Al-Wafd Party got the support of 11 percent of the respondents with the National Democratic and the Free Egyptians parties both scoring seven percent. The remaining parties on the scene all got five percent or less.
In a race between the three presidential hopefuls, Amr Moussa, Mohamed ElBaradei and Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh; Moussa, the former secretary-general of the League of Arab States scored 47 percent. ElBaradei scored 17 percent and Aboul Fotouh scored 16 percent both coming in close with the 18 percent of undecided respondents.
On the other hand, when asked who they will vote for in an open race, 27 percent said they are undecided, 16 percent chose Moussa and ElBaradei came in next at 12 percent along with former prime minister Ahmed Shafik.
When it comes to foreign relations, “less than one-quarter surveyed say the US, regional ally Saudi Arabia, media power Qatar, or regional rival Iran had the best interests of the Egyptian people in mind during the revolution,” stated the poll.
Seventy-five percent of Egyptians disapprove of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, much more than the 32 percent who disapprove of Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
However, 52 percent think Egypt should continue a partnership with Saudi Arabia, but only 34 percent believe the Saudis have Egypt’s best interests in mind. Thirty-two percent said Iran was unpredictable.
Contrarily, 38 percent of Egyptians feel Turkey cares about Egypt. According to the poll Turkey is “viewed as having demonstrated the most support for the revolution, as well as the most concern about Egypt’s interests and the most positive effect on the world.”
During this transitional period, the hostility towards Israel is on the rise, as 70 percent of Egyptians want to amend or cancel the Camp David peace agreement between the two countries.
Seif Allah El Khawanky from Thawra Stats said that it is important to carry on these studies in order to understand what Egyptians really want, which was missing under the former regime.
“[The polls] influence decision making, as when you represent people’s opinion, needs and wants it has to affect the policy makers and adds some values of participation in decision making,” he explained. “It [also] helps the ordinary citizen to position himself within the mainstream so he can compare his/her opinions with other fellow citizens,” he added.
