Coptic community voices rejections of Al-Nour Party’s candidates

Source:
Daily News Egypt
Date of source:
12 Oct 2015

"According to Egyptian law 46/2014, 24 seats are allocated for Copts inside the upcoming parliament. This quota represents 20% of the total seats elected via closed-list systems, which in total form 120 seats of over 500 members of the House of Representatives." Nagy William, a Coptic candidate running in Cairo, expectes "an overall Coptic representation inside the parliament to be a minimum of 30 members," and might reach reach 40.

Nader El-Serafy, a Coptic candidate running on a list of the Salafi al-Nour Party, has been severely criticized for having allied himself with the ultra conservative Salafis. In line with the Nour Party he believes that religion and political parties cannot be separated and "Islam is the religion of the state, [it is] not a civilian state,” which means that no legislations can be made if they go against the Islamic Sharia’a governing the state. El-Serafi also said that "My social, political, economic rights are equal to the Muslim citizen.” The Nour Party is allowing el-Sarafy to vote independently on specific Coptic issues such as church building in Parliament.

 

Cornelis Hulsman: Many Copts are opposed to Copts participating in the Nour Party but in my view Copts should be able to join the Nour Party as well to oppose it. That should be a personal choice.

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