CAIRO — The Nour Party sparked controversy among voters in 2012 during the run-up to parliamentary elections, when it refused to put photos of female candidates on its campaign banners. Most of the female candidates were members of the party, and therefore they did not object. The same scenario is playing out in the elections scheduled for Oct. 18-19, but this time the party’s decision to ban the photos of female candidates has raised the ire of Copts, who are running on Nour's list, as well as others.

The party had earlier faced opposition from its own members for allowing Copts on its lists in the first place, a decision that appeared to violate the spirit of fatwas issued by affiliated leaders. One fatwa issued after the January 25 Revolution by the Salafist Call, for which Al-Nour is considered the political arm, forbids even extending best wishes to Copts on their holidays. Another fatwa, issued before the 2012 elections by Yasser al-Borhami, deputy head of the Salafist Call, declares that Copts should not be allowed on any parliamentary ballots. Borhami stressed, “Christians should not run for parliamentary elections, as parliament is the legislative and regulatory authority. Should Christians be part of it, they could oust the president and hold the government accountable [for its actions], matters that infidels [Christians] are not permitted to handle." 

Nevertheless, Article 5 of the law on the House of Representatives stipulates that each political party must include at least seven female candidates and three Coptic nominees on its 15-seat electoral list, and for their 45-seat list include at least 9 Copts and 21 females.

The Nour list Copts have been fiercely attacked by liberals and other Copts for joining forces with the Nour Party. During an Oct. 4 telephone interview with the reporter Lamis al-Hadidi for the television program “Hona al-Asema,” Pope Tawadros II said, “One cannot espouse two ideologies, and those who do are not honest with themselves. The Coptic candidates on the lists of religious parties lack credibility and are honest neither to Muslims nor to Christians.”