Maria’s Note: DEDI Reports 59% of Morsi’s voters are illiterate

The Danish Egyptian Dialogue Institute (DEDI) along with Egyptian and International organizations has published an interesting report which main goal is to analyze the political arena in Egypt during the transitional period comprise between 2011 and 2012. The study focuses on the evolution of the presidential race and the elections that took place in Egypt in May and June 2012. The survey particularly considers the main five candidates of the presidential elections: Mohamed Morsi, Ahmed Shafiq, Amr Moussa, Hamdeen Sabbahi and Abdel Moneim Fotouh. 

One of the most interesting findings in the report is perhaps, the different socio-demographic profiles of the candidate’s voters. According to the study, Sabbahi and Abdel Fotouh’s voters were more urbanized and better educated than the other three candidates’ voters. Also, Sabbahi and Fotouh’s voters had a higher participation in the demonstrations during the revolution. 

The report shows that 46% of Morsi’s supporters justified their votes in terms of religiosity and 38% of Shafiq’s supporters voted for him seeking stability in the country. Morsi’s supporters were the poorest educated and the least urbanized among the voters. According to the survey, 59% of Morsi’s voters are illiterate and only 1% amongst them participated in the demonstrations during the revolution.

Interestingly, Morsi and Moussa were the two candidates with more appeal to Egyptian women. The other three candidates had a majority of male voters.

Regarding the elections campaign, Amr Moussa’s campaign was the most visible, as the majority of Egyptians saw his posters at some point. The Islamist candidates preferred direct contact with people. Surprisingly, the visibility of the campaigns did not affect the final results.

Finally, according to the survey, television was the most used source to learn about the candidates.

Check the complete report on this link