Economic prospects top the public's concerns according to the NDP's nationwide poll, reports Gamal Essam El-Din Last week's announcement of the results of the ruling National Democratic Party's (NDP) sixth nationwide poll provoked mixed reactions. Opposition parties joined forces to cast doubts over the results, alleging that they reflected the party's own conception of the current political and economic situation and were little more than a PR exercise for the government of Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif. NDP officials insist that the poll is a basic tool in gauging public opinion and that its findings will be translated into policies. The most controversial finding was that of the 2,400 families surveyed 71 per cent expressed trust in the performance of the Nazif government. Party officials say 39 per cent expressed satisfaction with the government, while 32 per cent said they were satisfied "to some extent". Questioned about the most pressing economic problems facing the country 51 per cent of the sample cited unemployment as their greatest concern, 27 per cent inflation, 12 low incomes, six per cent corruption, two per cent population growth and just one per cent shortage of housing. Asked about their evaluation of the economic situation 20 per cent of respondents said it was good, 37 per cent said bad, 31 per cent said average while 12 per cent said they did not know. One per cent of respondents refused to give an answer. Commenting on the results, Minister of Housing Ahmed El-Maghrabi said the fact that unemployment tops the list of most people's concerns underlines the credibility of the poll. "That unemployment topped people's concerns this year is understandable given the negative impact of the global financial crisis on economic growth in Egypt and job creation," said El-Maghrabi. El-Maghrabi argued that the poll sends a clear signal to the government that tackling unemployment should be its top priority. "When inflation on basic foodstuffs hit the poor last year the government intervened to contain the shock," said El-Maghrabi, citing the fact that "the long lines of people standing and fighting to get bread from bakeries has vanished and inflation, in general, is much lower than last year." El-Maghrabi also believes that despite a large majority saying they opposed privatisation the private sector had played an important role in improving public services as well as in sectors like housing and land reclamation. Half of those surveyed said they rejected privatisation, 16 per cent said it was acceptable, while just seven per cent thought it was good. Surprisingly, 27 per cent had yet to make up their minds. Fouad Badrawi, a leading member of the liberal-oriented Wafd Party, told Al-Ahram Weekly that "in general NDP polls are a tool for containing social discontent." "We believe that these polls, like elections, are manipulated by the NDP and the government to give an impression of satisfaction." The NDP poll also covered political issues. Twenty four per cent of respondents listed "corruption" as the most pressing of their political concerns, followed by terrorism (15 per cent), the relationship between Muslims and Christians (nine per cent), democracy and political reform (seven per cent) and amendments to the constitution (five per cent). Thirty five per cent, meanwhile, said they do not have an opinion on political issues. A total of 48 per cent of respondents said that the performance of the People's Assembly was "bad" and only 12 per cent said it was "good". The poll also revealed that 49 per cent of respondents have voting cards, compared to 30 per cent in 2002. Twenty nine per cent believed the country enjoys greater freedoms than last year while 47 per cent said they can freely and frankly discuss the country's political conditions. Alia El-Mahdi, dean of Cairo University's Faculty of Economics and Political Science and a member of the team that supervised the poll, said 40 per cent of respondents were unaware of the activities of political parties in Egypt. By contrast, she said, the judicial authority was trusted by a majority of respondents, followed by local councils, the People's Assembly and Shura Council. Responding to opposition attacks, Mohamed Kamal, NDP's secretary for indoctrination, indicated that the ruling party had worked hard to ensure that the 2,400 families surveyed were representative. "The families came from 27 administrative units across Egypt (villages, districts, towns and cities) and reflected different age groups and varying levels of education," he said. "From the outset NDP leaders were aware that the results of the poll would not be received well by opposition forces. One of our basic goals is to spread the culture of polls in Egypt." "This is what the opposition should understand, rather than raise random suspicions," he said. Abdel-Moneim Said, chairman of Al-Ahram, also believes that the 2,400 families included is large enough to accurately reflect society as a whole. Nor is he surprised that unemployment tops most people's concerns. "It has been near the top of the public's concern since at least 1997. Political and foreign relation issues usually take a back seat," said Said.
