Thirty percent of Egyptians want the country’s next president to have an Islamic background, a poll conducted by the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party’s newspaper has revealed.
The survey included 500 participants from 18 Egyptian governorates, the newspaper said. Included are Cairo, Giza, Alexandria, Daqahlia, Fayoum, Ismailia, Beheira, Assiut, Luxor, Red Sea, Sohag, Monufiya, Sharqiya, Gharbiya, Minya, Beni Suef and Aswan.
The newspaper reported that 23 percent of participants prefer a civilian president. Merging the aforementioned percentages, the poll suggests that more than half of voters reject a military president, given the fact that none of the current Islamist hopefuls have military affiliations.
According to the poll, 4 percent have not yet decided on their favorite candidate but said they will not back an Islamic figure in principle.
Meanwhile, 19 percent of participants will not vote for any candidate linked to the regime of former President Hosni Mubarak. But 13 percent prefer to vote for a candidate who has political experience.
The poll also said 5 percent favor a president who does not belong to a high social class. Two percent prefer a military president, with an equal portion backing a candidate with an economic background.
One percent of participants said they would vote for a young president, while an equal percentage would back an independent candidate.
