A large number of candidates running in the third round of the parliamentary elections paid visits to the church to congratulate it over the New Year while candidates of the Salafī al-Nūr Party refrained.

Bishop Bīshūy, Secretary of the Holy Synod, refused to meet any candidates, adding that the church is keeping its distance from politics. [Husām Sadaqah, Fārūq al-Dusūqī, Ghādah ‘Abd al-Hāfiz and Teresa Kamāl, Al-Misrī al-Yawm, Jan. 2, p. 9]