On its road to a new democratic system, Egypt has been given the possibility of creating a multi-party political system, where people of different backgrounds and opinions will have to work together to produce a more positive political scene. However, during the emergence of the many new political parties, it has increasingly become clear that many of them need support on executing an effective campaign for the previous parliamentary elections and the upcoming presidential elections and knowing how to play a strong role in the process of writing a new constitution.
With this in mind, DEDI and Danish Institute for Parties and Democracy (DIPD) together with a consortium of Egyptian and International organizations has designed a project that aims to support an inclusive and participatory political environment that addresses both shorter and longer term needs of political parties.
The overall objectives of the project are to provide a knowledge base of voter preferences, and of different global transition experiences. It also aims at providing training and dialogue on electoral systems, legal reform, constitution building processes and party organization. The project entails political debates and discussions.
The project addressed the most pressing needs of the political parties and intended to support the interested political parties in the previous parliamentary elections in terms of electoral knowledge and strategy, political programming, campaigning, debating and approach to media. It also helps them in the constitutional process following the parliamentary elections and then in the post-elections process of building sustainable party organizations and the knowledge needed to establish a membership and funding base.
The needs of the political parties closely correspond to the expected election cycle and constitutional process as declared by the Supreme Council for the Armed Forces (SCAF) following a referendum held in March 2011.
Activities of the project has so far included four opinion polls, which were conducted with Al Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies (ACPSS). Three polls were conducted through face-to-face interviews with 2400 randomly selected Egyptians ahead of Egypt's parliamentary elections. The fourth poll contains 1126 responses from randomly selected Egyptians in governorates where the second round of elections is taking place.
The project has also produced one report in Arabic and English, entitled "The Future of Egypt's Democracy- The Voice of the Egyptian Voter," reflecting on the Egyptian political landscape and voters attitudes based on the surveys. The products of the project also includes a number of trainings on political campaigning and coalition building and a trip to Denmark by 15 Egyptian politicians and campaign staff to experience the Danish parliamentary elections.
Please find the report and the four polls under Project Resources.
