Egypt: churchmen express ‘alarm’ over election results

December 06, 2011

Churchmen in Egypt are expressing alarm over the strong showing of Islamist parties in the November 28 elections. According to provisional election results that vary depending upon the news source, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party received 35-45% of the vote in November 28 elections for the lower house of parliament, while the even more radical Salafis’ Al Nour Party received 20-24% of the vote.

“We were expecting the Muslim Brothers to do well, but we did not expect at all the success of the Salafists,” said Father Antoine Rafic Greiche, official spokesman for the Catholic Church in Egypt. “We were expecting the Muslim Brothers to do well, but we did not expect at all the success of the Salafists.”

“The Salafists’ attitude to Christians is to say that they can get their passport to go to the USA, France, UK or somewhere else in the West,” he added.

“The Muslim Brothers know what they are doing,” said Coptic Catholic Bishop Antonios Aziz Mina of Giza. “I am afraid what they, and the Salafists, might do if they got power.”

 

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Further information:

• Egypt - Extremists' success sparks fear (Aid to the Church in Need)
• Egypt: missionary predicts disenchantment with Islamist rule (CWN, 12/5)
• Egyptian parliamentary election, 2011–2012 (Wikipedia)