45% Mauritanians against toppling Abdel Aziz

A poll by the Mauritanian Centre for Studies and Strategic Research has found that 45 percent of Mauritanians are against the toppling of President Ould Abdel Aziz's regime. Conversely, 35 percent think it is necessary to oust the former general. It also found that 65 percent of the population are apparently against Mauritanian military intervention outside their borders as opposed to 32 percent who are for it. The centre said in its poll that 33 percent of Mauritanians felt that their living conditions were going to worsen, while 56 percent said they were not satisfied with the economic situation, as opposed to 16 percent. On the country's political crisis, 40 percent rejected both sides of the political spectrum, while 29 percent supported the opposition against 26 percent who were for the regime. The sample poll was based on responses from 850 people, and the error margin was estimated at three percent. According to the study 62 percent of Mauritanians earn a low income, 43 percent face a housing crisis and 20 percent have health problems. Around 66 percent were against military rule, against 19.9 percent who supported it, while 74.3 percent supported having a civil president, and 10.5 percent support a military president. Over half (50.9 percent) said they were ready to participate in peaceful protests while 38.7 percent said they were not ready to demonstrate. On government and parliamentary performance 57.9 percent said the legislative body was weak, against 21.3 percent who believed the parliament did well. Around 58 percent of respondents said they thought the government did not function well, while 23 percent disagreed. On defending public rights an political awareness, around 25.6 percent did not know who their local MP was, while 18.2 percent did not think parliamentarians did enough to defend their rights. Mohamed Nabil Mansour, an MP from the Islamist Tawassoul party scored an approval rating of 18.4 percent, Mohamed el-Mustafa Oulad Badr Eldeen from the Progress Party scored 8 percent, while Jacob Oulad Amin from the Democratic and Progress Party scored 4.8 percent. About security, 25.3 percent said that they did not feel safe in the area they lived in against 73. percent who felt secure. The poll showed that 29.9 percent of citizens were exposed to robbery or theft in 2011-2012, while 63.5 percent did not face any kind of attempted robbery.