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14. 5 million Coptic votes crucial in coming elections

Mon, 2011-09-26 13:40 — AmR

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Year: 
2011
Week: 
39
Article number: 
14
Article pages: 
12-13
Date of source: 
September 26, 2011
Author: 
Numayrī Shūmān and Rāmī Rushdī
Reviewer: 
‘Amr al-Misrī
Article summary: 

In light of the law on division of constituencies the old calculations have changed and the search for voting blocs is becoming hectic among the candidates, some of whom hope for the Copts' votes while others believe they would not be effective under the new election law.

Article full text: 

Najīb Jabrā’īl, Coptic activist and legal advisor, said Copts' participation in the forthcoming elections would not go beyond 1% or 1.5%, the same rate of participation for 20 years.

"The rate would not be different now that the climate in the coming period is totally not appealing, particularly after the ascension of the salafists and the Muslim Brotherhood," said Jabrā'īl.

Mamdūh Ramzī, the assistant leader of the Reform & Development Party, who also runs on the party's lists in the coming People's Assembly elections, said that the Copts will never see success except under the proportional representation system.

"Christians make 20% of Egyptians with a population of 19-20 million. Sixty-nine percent of them, about 7.6 million, are eligible voters, which form a good voting bloc but they are not effective in the end," said Ramzī.

[Reviewer's note: The original article in Arabic is not available on the Internet]

Fulltext type: 
Summary
Quality: 
The article contains no obvious errors...
Classification: 
Opinion
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