Meanwhile, several Coptic intellectuals and politicians agreed that 'Umar Sulaymān's running in the presidential elections is a relapse to the former regime of overthrown president Husnī Mubārak.

"Sulaymān's return as a presidential candidate is a real challenge to the revolution and the Egyptian people," Ishaq Hannā, Secretary-General of the Egyptian society for enlightenment, said.

Kamāl Zākhir Mūsá, a Coptic writer, said that Sulayman's candidacy falls within the framework of the conflict between the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and the Islamist camp (the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafīs), and perhaps this conflict could develop into a bone-breaking confrontation.

Jamāl As'ad 'Abd al-Malāk said the candidacy of Sulaymān means that the course of the revolution has stopped at March 19, 2011, when a referendum was conducted over the constitution. [Ashraf Sādiq, al-Ahrām, April 10, p. 9] Read original text in Arabic