CAIRO: Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies conducted an opinion poll on the Egyptian presidential candidates with Amr Moussa, Omar Suleiman and Ahmed Shafiq being the frontrunners. According to the poll, Former Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Moussa topped the list of presidential candidates, getting 65 percent of those asked in the poll from a sentimental aspect. Meanwhile, Former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq and Former Vice-President Omar Suleiman came in second and third, respectively. The legal chancellor Mourtada Manour was forth followed by al-Ghad Party Chairman Ayman Nour in fifth. The poll also showed 89.4 percent of Egyptians expressed their full trust in the Supreme Council of Armed Forces' (SCAF) ability to turn Egypt into a democracy amid suitable circumstances; while 88.3 percent see the Council able to hand authority over to a civil state. A further 91 percent also expected the SCAF to be able to conduct transparent elections and 78.9 percent see the SCAF able to try the former regime's remnants. 40.6 percent asserted that the SCAF's performance during the transitional period is good. As for the political parties' activities, Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) got the first rank, gaining 18.4 percent, while the Salafis' "Nour" Party got 7.8 percent. The al-Wafd Party came in third. FJP also topped the first rank of possible parties to win the upcoming parliamentary elections followed by al-Wafd Party in second, the poll showed. Regarding the evaluation of the status quo in Egypt, the economic issues came in top with 65.2 percent of the burning issues in the Egyptian streets. The security and stability issues came second. 8.8 percent of those who are included in the poll see no change in the economic situation after the January 25 Revolution, while 40.1 percent asserted the situation has become worse than before the revolution. The Egyptian society is ready for democracy, 59 percent of voters said. There are also 45.2 percent that see Egypt as a semi-democratic state a year from now, amid the ongoing security chaos. 60.5 percent expected worse scenarios facing Egypt in the future. The poll also said 93.2 percent of people highlighted their pride of their Egyptian identity. Al-Ahram Center For Political and Strategic Studies is affiliated to government al-Ahram News Foundation.
