Most Egyptians favour Morsi return as president

A poll conducted in Egypt suggests that 68 per cent of a random sample of the population is in favour of the return to office of the deposed President Mohamed Morsi. The percentage of those supporting his ousting has fallen to 18, while 12 per cent support neither Morsi nor the coup.

Conducted by the Egyptian Centre for Media Studies and Public Opinion (Integration Egypt), the poll revealed that the total number of people who took part in anti-Morsi events was less than 5.5 million. Pro-Morsi demonstrations attracted 26 million Egyptians in the same period, it is claimed.

The director of the centre, Mustafa Khodri, said that the study called into serious doubt the Egyptian media’s claim that the number of people participating in protests supporting the isolation of President Morsi topped 33 million. He also pointed out that the study was conducted by means of a field analysis and the level of confidence in the results is 95 per cent.

The poll showed a degree of relative stability in the number of those supporting Morsi’s legitimacy, with a sharp decline in those supporting his isolation. “There has been a 28 per cent reduction in the number of those supporting the isolation since last August,” added Khodri.