In the Egyptian case, without this mechanism, he said, women and Copts cannot gain any significant parliamentary representation.
“Contrary to claims by some pedantic politicians, this requirement has nothing to do with sectarian quotas, but evokes a mechanism known and applied, in one way or another, in about fifty countries,” he said. “This system may be canceled in once its objectives get realized.”
Guindy stressed that Copts have often contested electoral races in recent decades and their failure was due to nothing but sectarianism.
Speaking about the optimal way for Coptic representation, Guindy said there are several mechanisms, including previously used systems for workers and farmers, or using separate lists for Copts and women, through which voters vote for those whom they want to elect and the members with the highest votes – in the range of established proportions – win the elections.
Most important is to accept the principle and then it would be easy to find the appropriate methods, learning from the experiences of other countries, Guindy said.
When asked his opinion of Gamal Abdel Nasser’s, then Sadat’s and Mubarak’s, policies of appointing some Copts in the People’s Assembly, Guindy said, “Appointment of a handful of Copts is humiliating in principle, and, in practice, the rulers used it to bring certain easy-to-control and ineffective persons and that is why most, but not all, Coptic appointed members were rejected by Copts.”
He concluded, “Under the current repellent climate linking citizenship to religion, and even denomination, and without such a mechanism, it would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a Copt or a woman to win a seat in the parliament through free, fair election.”
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