Egypt turns down quota for women and Copts in parliament

Tuesday 26-11-2013 03:43 PM
Egypt turns down quota for women and Copts in parliament

(ARCHIVE)Egyptian women wait in line to cast their votes on the new constitution. Khaled Abdullah/Reuters

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CAIRO, Nov 26 (Aswat Masriya)  - The constituent committee amending Egypt's suspended constitution will not introduce a quota for women, Coptic Christians or youths in parliament, committee member Mohamed Abla said in a press statement on Tuesday.

Abla added, "In the committee's closed session, there was a consensus not to allocate a quota for any marginalised group in all representative houses."

He explained that the committee made an exception of allocating 25 percent for both women and youth only in the municipalities’ representative houses.

Sources at the constituent committee said on Wednesday that it had already decided to introduce the quota.

The article stipulating quotas has raised controversy; it was criticized by some members who reject the notion of "positive discrimination" for any faction of society.

The 50-member committee finished drafting its amendments to the constitution on Tuesday, which will be put to vote in a public referendum in mid-January.

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