Egypt's Christians engaged in political process

(Vatican Radio) Egyptian officials are saying that an overwhelming majority of Egyptians who voted on the country's new constitution have backed the draft charter. Unofficial results indicate that more than 90 percent of the voters have said ``yes'' to the constitution, with most of the ballots counted.

The vote was held Tuesday and Wednesday, and was being seen as a test of public opinion about the coup that removed President Mohammad Morsi from power and saw Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood organization officially outlawed by court order.

The spokesman for the Greek Melkite Catholic Church in Egypt, Fr Rafic Greiche, told Vatican Radio that the referendum was the first step in a political roadmap to new elections for a president and parliament. “After the parliamentary elections, we will be able to say that Egypt has entered into a democratic and stable era,” he said.

Fr Greiche went on to say that Christians’ participation in the process has been, and he hopes will continue to be, both broad and deep. “In the parliamentary elections to come,” he said, “Christians are already in [several different political] parties, and will have to work with the parties – and this is something new for Christians,” who, “have begun to work with Muslims as one heart and one soul, in many different parties, and this is something good, because Christians are now participating in political life.” Listen to our extended conversation with Fr Rafic Greiche: