Dialogue on women participation in elections

The Diane Foundation for civic awareness and eco-sustainable development organized a debate yesterday around the topic of women’s participation in the parliamentary elections. The session was moderated by the minister of state for women’s affairs, Jean Ogassapian, and Joele Rizkallah from Women in Front association. Rizkallah said that while the new electoral law did not observe or include the women representation quota, her association has put forward an alternate scheme to back and encourage women wishing to run for elections, and hence developed a list of potential names, including, media figure May Shidiac, entrepreneur Wafaa Saab and activist Nayla Geagea. In her speech, Rizkallah asked Ogassapian to adopt measures that inspire women to enter the race for elections, suggesting for example, that the ministry of interior allows a woman to nominate herself under her husband’s family name, especially if she is known under this name. She also demanded the adoption of a bill that exempts women candidates from the required registration fees, noting that the draft, according to Ogassapian, has been discussed in the Legislative but was not approved after being faced with opposition from Hizbullah MPs. She expressed hope that the political parties take bulls by the horns and reserve a space for women on their lists. In his turn, Ogassapian maintained that asking for a fair representation for women is not a matter of numbers or diversity in parliament seats, it is an urgency to stop brain drain in Lebanon brought about to a great extent by marginalizing women capacities. (L’Orient Le Jour, March 1, 2018)
 

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