Most Egyptians prefer civilian president in future

The Ibn Khaldun Centre for Development Studies has announced the results of a poll it recently conducted to measure Egyptian public opinion on the preferred background of the next potential president.

According to the poll, 61 per cent of the people who took part preferred a president with a civilian background, while only 30 per cent preferred a president with a military background. Nine per cent of those polled preferred an on duty military officer.

The Centre announced the results in statement distributed on Sunday. It said that the poll measured the degree of hope among Egyptians. It showed that 81 per cent of those polled would vote in future parliamentarian and presidential elections.

The executive director of the Centre Dalia Zeyada described the results as “shocking”. She said: “We expected that the public mood in Egypt would support a military person for presidency to honour the heroic role the army has played during the recent months.”

Zeyada added: “But this result reflects that the Egyptian people have reached a stage of political maturity that qualifies them to distinguish between their feelings towards different people and different entities.”

It is worth noting that the poll was conducted during a five-week period across 15 Egyptian governorates. 84 per cent of those polled were Egyptians under the age of 50, and 16 per cent were over 50 years old.