Joseph Malāk, the director of the Egyptian center for development and human rights studies, a think-tank specialized in Coptic affairs, said the absence instructions by the church or Coptic leaders in the first round of the presidential elections gave rise to different orientations of Coptic votes.

Malāk denounced some attempts to hurl the runoff round into a sectarian juncture in the manner of the March 19, 2011 referendum over the constitutional amendments.

"Some Copts will vote for Shafīq for representing a civil state and to avoid a religious state, others will do it because they voted for him in the first round, some others will vote for Muhammad Mursī for representing the revolution and to avoid any face from the former regime and the largest sector of Christians who voted for Hamdīn Sabbāhī in the first round could boycott the election," said Malāk. [Author Not Mentioned, al-Ahrām, June 9, p. 13] Read original text in Arabic