Hala Shukrallah has become the first Christian woman to lead a political party in predominantly Muslim Egypt, media reports said Saturday.
The 60-year-old activist and development expert was elected to lead the liberal Constitution Party that was founded in 2012 by Nobel Peace laureate Mohammed ElBaradei. Shukrallah, a prominent campaigner against religious bias, won around 57 percent of the votes, media reports said.
Her win also makes her the first female leader of a political party in Egypt.
ElBaradei resigned as Egypt's vice president in August to protest a deadly security crackdown on sit-ins by backers of Mohammed Morsi, a month after the Islamist president was deposed by the military.
ElBaradei, a former head of the Vienna-based UN nuclear watchdog, has been living in Austria since.
Christians, who make up around 10 per cent of Egypt's 86 million population, often complain of alleged religious persecution.
