Copts Underrepresented in the Egyptian Government

As Egypt prepares for parliamentary elections the leaders of its large Coptic Orthodox minority are questioning how few Copts are running for seats from any party. The Egyptian government claims to provide adequate representation for the Copts, but in the last parliamentary elections only one Copt was elected to Parliament. The additional ten Copts appointed by the president left Parliament's lower house with only 2% of its membership being Coptic, a disproportionate percentage considering that Copts form somewhere between 10 and 20% of the total Egyptian population.