On the other hand, ‘Imād ‘Abd al-Ghafūr, the leader of al-Nūr Party, said that the Egyptian society would not accept a Copt as president of the republic, adding Article 2 of the Constitution, which stipulates that the official religion of the state is Islam, automatically requires that the president has to be Muslim.

“Al-Nūr Party will seek to have this point stated openly in the new constitution,” said ‘Abd al-Ghafūr.

He noted that the constitutions of many European countries like Greece, Spain and seven European Union (EU) members and even in Britain’s unwritten constitution, clearly indicate the religion, and sometimes the denomination, of the head of state. [Ahmad ‘Abd al-Hamīd, Al-Akhbār, Jan. 2, p. 9]