Though he supports its conservative social agenda, Ashraf Omar, 40, said he feared replacing a secular dictatorship with a religious one.

Egyptians have voted to exchange secular dictatorship with Islamic theocracy.

Syria is considered to be a secular dictatorship with a poor human rights record.

I guess you prefer secular dictatorships like Syria where regime has slaughtered thousands and is still doing so, just like his father did?

Which secular governments are you talking about here, or so you mean secular dictatorships?

Iran's Islamic theocracy and Turkmenistan's secular dictatorship also prevent the development of a closer friendship.

This country of 24 million defies easy labels: it is neither dictatorship nor liberal democracy, neither Islamic nor secular.

In a dictatorship, secular or theocratic, leaders never lose as long as they are in power.

Its roots are out there in the Middle East, in the brutal combination of secular dictatorship and religious extremism.

But there's not much doubt what all the main parties in both countries would prefer and it is neither theocratic nor secular dictatorship.