However, Copts have fared better on the lists of opposition parties. The Wafd, for instance, is fielding 12 Coptic candidates. There are still more Coptic candidates running as independents. In previous elections, and in order to make up for the shortage of Copts on the NDP's list of candidates, the president, who has the constitutional right to appoint 10 MPs, includes a number of Copts among them. Many Copts who have remained opposed to this insist that instead they should be allowed to contest the elections fairly and squarely, addressing all Egyptians as potential voters and avoiding sectarian rhetoric.
Coptic candidates have during the present campaign addressed crowds at mosques.
One Coptic candidate, Esmat Nathan, has even donated LE1 million to restore the Sidi Bishr mosque in Alexandria and Al-Azhar institutes in his constituency. We go to mosques more frequently than churches, seeking voters and supporters. The election campaigns of Coptic candidates are devoid of sectarian language. The core of his electoral programme is much more broadly based, focusing as it does on the need to build more schools and youth centres. The Coptic Orthodox Church is not giving its support to Coptic candidates.