President Morsi's announcement of the dates for parliamentary elections has angered Egyptian Christians.

Polling is to be phased over two months but the first stage – in Cairo and four other provinces – is scheduled for 27-28 April, overlapping with Palm Sunday in the Coptic calendar. The run-off, a week later, coincides with the Coptic Easter.

Egypt has the largest Christian community in the Middle East, numbering several millions, and Coptic activists are claiming the election has been timed to discourage them from voting.

Even if the timing was not a deliberate ploy it does seem an inconsiderate and insensitive move on Morsi's part.

"Didn't the president consult anyone before setting the dates?" Bishop Rafiq Gereish is quoted as saying in a report by the Egypt Independent.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 23 February 2013.

UPDATE, 13.00 GMT, 23 February: Reuters reports that President Morsi is planning to issue a new decree changing the election dates. It seems extraordinary that he didn't think about the Coptic Easter (and no officials saw fit to remind him) before he announced the dates in the first place.