Egypt’s Copts willing to support MB-led coalition

12/2/2012

Cairo: The patriarch of Egypt’s Coptic Church has expressed willingness to support a new government led by the Muslim Brotherhood, days after the largest political party demanded that the incumbent military-appointed cabinet be sacked to make way for a coalition government.

Pope Shenouda III of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria has expressed willingness to nominate four Coptic figures to ministerial positions in Freedom and Justice Party led government if such a government comes to fruition, a church source was quoted as saying by an Egyptian daily.

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, which now dominates the parliament after historic the polls has said it is ready to form a coalition government and demanded that the incumbent cabinet be sacked as it has failed to check deteriorating security and economic situation in the country.

The minority Coptic Christians account for over 10 per cent of Egypt’s population.

The emergence of Islamists as major political parties against the secularists in parliamentary polls had made the community anxious.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that “the Church thinks that the group (FJP) has the full right to form the government on the condition that it will be representative of all communities in the society”.

Brotherhood Deputy Supreme Guide Khairat al-Shater said on Wednesday that it is ready to form a coalition government in place of the current government headed by Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri.

The idea has gathered political support in the past days, but according to the interim constitution issued by the ruling military council last March, the only authority capable of dismissing a cabinet during the transition period is the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) itself.

A military source said that SCAF does not plan to dismiss Ganzouri, and that the cabinet will stay in place until the military council hands power over to civilians by the end of June.

On Thursday, the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, a founding member of the Egyptian Bloc electoral list, welcomed the Freedom and Justice Party’s proposal to form a national salvation cabinet.

The leftist party said in a statement that it rejects the Ganzouri cabinet for “failing to achieve security for citizens, and for being responsible for the massacre in Port Said,” in reference to violence in the city’s football stadium last week that left over 71 dead and hundreds injured.

Many Egyptians have attributed the violence to an intentional security negligence or incitement on the part of security forces.

PTI

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