Following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian Islamist Nageh Ibrahim, a Al-Jama'a Al-Islamiya Shura Council member, which aired on Al-Hayat TV on March 12, 2011:

Nageh Ibrahim: Why am I supposed to accept having a Coptic president in a country with a Muslim majority? Why shouldn’t we appoint a Muslim as president – which would be the most natural, reasonable, and appropriate thing to do? Some things have to do with political propriety.

Does France have even a minister who is Muslim? Around five million Muslims live there, out a population of 60 million, or one out of twelve, yet there is no Muslim minister there, no Muslim chief of staff, or anything. No one opposes that. So why should we have a Coptic president in a country with a Muslim majority?!

This is inappropriate even in political terms. There is a thing called political conventions... Take Tony Blair... This holds true for all countries, not just Egypt. Tony Blair could convert to a different Christian denomination only after he stepped down as prime minister.

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