February 3rd, 2013, Emilene Parry
Egyptian President, Mohammed Morsi, recently drafted a new constitution into law, prompting many people to take to the streets in protest. Participants in a recent YouGov Lab regarding the new constitution had a lot of interesting things to say on the issue.
The majority of Lab participants were aware of the new constitution. However, when asked if they supported the new constitution, respondents split almost equally, with slightly more supporting the constitution than not.
Reasons given for supporting the new constitution:
“This constitution is supported by the Egyptian people” Athar Shah, Pakistan
“Because it is democratic” Tariq,UAE
“I believe that Morsi leading government has better constitution and policies than others despite lack of people support and confidence” Mohammad, UAE
“He needs full powers in order to clean all the corruption in the Egyptian ministries” Ibrahim, UAE
“I think it's good even if it doesn't cover all issues but the most important now is the parliament” Anonymous
“This will lead Egypt to be a democratic country” Muazam, Pakistan
“Because it asks for more powers which will be used to enforce law and order in country” Anonymous
“It is a good approach towards democracy” Anonymous
“It is a step forward to political stability conditions” Mohamed
Reasons given for not supporting the new constitution:
“Any constitution that gives absolute powers to an individual or a small group of individuals must be considered suspicious and undemocratic” Zakir, UAE
“Any Egyptian constitution should be based on secular rules and not based on Sharia or any other religious regulations” Karem, UAE
“Because it will likely remove many civil rights that woman and children have had and it was not voted in by the majority” Anonymous
“Mainly because it didn't include all the active parts of Egypt as a country; you need to consider all the differences present in their country so that you can make real Islamic democracy”
“Because it is not legal and it assists to build a new dictator” Nidal Ali, Sudan
“This constitution is for a particular section in Egypt and helps their work only – it is not for all Egyptian people” Anonymous
“It is not beneficial for the people of Egypt. It is almost the same as the previous one” Taha, Pakistan
“Because it may undermine freedom of speech and women's rights” Anonymous
“Because I see that the Egyptian people read the constitution and they don't understand many things in it and I think it's unfair constitution. I said that because I follow the media and many of them talk about this important case in Egypt” Anonymous
“It not fair for the future of people” Anonymous
Half of Lab participants believe that the constitution favors Islamists and many believe that the constitution uses vague language. Only one-third claims the constitution favors males and about one-third believes that it undermines Christians and religious minorities in Egypt.
The majority of Lab participants agree that the constitution was passed too quickly, although most believe that the voting process was fair.
A referendum on the constitution showed two-thirds of Egyptians in support of the constitution. Overall, most participants state that they are satisfied that the results of the referendum are accurate, despite the two-fifths who claim that the referendum results are fake.
Over half see the situation in Egypt as being unstable, with one-fifth stating that it is ‘not stable at all’. On a more positive note, over half of participants believe that President Morsi is having a positive impact on Egypt in general.