Egypt: ElBaradei more popular than President Mubarak

CAIRO: Mohamed El Baradei has won a popularity context in a recent referendum on the most popular figures in the world, the website “WhoPopular” recently said. ElBaradei, the former IAEA chief and potential Egyptian presidential candidate, won first place in the poll of the most popular figures in Egypt when citizens were asked: “Who do you think is the most popular people of the world?”

According to the online poll – of which, real statistics are not available – on the website, ElBaradei came out on top of the referendum locally, among other prominent figures, which brought together current and former Presidents, Ministers and Public Figures in Egypt. Overall, AlBaradei was ranked number 34 at the global level among the most internationally popular personalities.

He overshadowed 11 Egyptian figures who were included in the referendum, garnering 1638 votes out of 2000 votes. The other 11 figures were the current Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak who only received 226 votes, Secretary General of the League of Arab States Amr Moussa (50 votes), Secretary General of the National Party’s policies Committee Gamal Mubarak (38 votes), Late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat (31 votes), followed by the late President Gamal Abdel Nasser (29 votes), Ayman Nour (26 votes), Pope Shenouda III 13 votes), Hassan el-Banna, Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood Movement (9) and Independent MP Talaat Sadat (8 votes).

Hossein Mousavi, the Iranian political leader in the Islamic Revolution in Iran, after the protest movement begun last summer in Iran, won first place in the referendum at the global level with a total of 72,075 votes.

**reporting by Mohamed Abdel Salam