Egypt's Copts Worry About Islamist Win

Mona Makram-Ebeid, a former member of the Egyptian parliament, belongs to Egypt’s 10 million-strong Coptic minority. She supports one of the front-runners for the presidency, Amr Moussa, and tells Al-Monitor's Sophie Claudet in an interview that she fears an Islamist win "not only for the Copts, but for the liberals, the seculars, for everybody."
Egyptian Coptic priests react during the farewell of Pope Shenouda III, the head of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church during his funeral, in the Abassiya Cathedral in Cairo March 20, 2012. Thousands of mourners dressed in black gathered in Cairo on Tuesday for the funeral of Egypt's Orthodox Christian Pope Shenouda, who spent his final years trying to comfort a community disturbed by the rise of political Islam. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh (EGYPT - Tags: OBITUARY RELIGION)
Egyptian Coptic priests react during the farewell of Pope Shenouda III in Abassiya Cathedral in Cairo March 20, 2012. - REUTERS/Amr Dalsh
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Sophie Claudet
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Al-Monitor spoke to former MP and member of the trustees of the 25 January Revolution Mona Makram-Ebeid. A member of Egypt’s 10-million strong Coptic minority, she is actively engaged in a national dialogue with Egypt’s Islamic religious authorities. She supports one of the frontrunners for the presidency: former foreign minister and former head of the Arab League Amr Moussa.

Al-Monitor:  Can Egypt’s five million Coptic voters influence the vote?

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