Egyptian Female Presidential Candidate Aims to Give Voice to Minorities

"Women are considered second class citizens, like Coptic Christians and Nubians, thus my decision to run is in support of all marginalized minorities." - Bouthaina Kamel

9/3/2012

Potential presidential candidate, Bothaina Kamel, considers her participation in the presidential race “a victory for all marginalized minorities” in Egypt.

“Women are considered second class citizens, like Coptic Christians and Nubians, thus my decision to run is in support of all marginalized minorities”, Kamel said, reported Italy’s AKI News Agency.

“Under military rule, conspiracies against the revolution and revolutionaries, where brave women were at the frontlines, have flourished. These women were fought as the revolution was.” Kamel said, suggesting that this fight against women was demonstrated through the reduced number of female ministers in the government.

“This is a result of the military’s conservative framework which does not encourage freedom and women rights”, Kamel explained then gave the uprising credit for enabling her to run for president.

Kamel believes her chance of winning is much “like that of other candidates”. She condemned the proposal of “consensual candidate”, explaining that the purpose is to “elect” a president, not “appoint” one.

Kamel compared her cause to that of the former Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, but insisted that, unlike him, she will not pull out of the race, because her participation is a “fight for revolution and women rights”.

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