Bold women challenge patriarchal mindsets in municipal elections

With the end of the deadline for nominations for the municipal elections in Beirut and Beqaa areas, and despite general indifference by political parties, new women candidates have emerged. The Baalbaq electoral list of ‘Muwatinoun Wa Muwatinat fi Dawla’ included 3 women nominees, namely Mirvat Wahbeh, Yumna Tfaili and Hadil Rifai, who have been involved in community projects  implemented by LOST , in collaboration with the German KAS foundation. In the capital of the North, on the other hand, journalist Huda Mohamad Sabagh, disclosed her intention to run for municipal elections in Al Mina. Similarly, the Forum for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities- the North, nominated its member, Rasha Sankari, for Tripoli municipality. In Beirut, 3 women candidates Huda Osta, Matilda Khury and Yusra Siadani, were nominated in the  “Beirutis” list, which was announced by previous Prime Minister Saad Hariri, and which includes a total of 24 names .Meanwhile, in Nabyeh, Mount Lebanon, which has 3 mayors (makhatir), Amal George Bou Hadir, expressed her regret to Al Diyar newspaper over failing to form a mayoral electoral list with 4 other women, who backed down because the “majority in the area does not accept the idea of women in such positions,” as they put it. Regarding civil society actions in this respect, the Association for the Development of Tripoli and Al Mina called for more balanced and quota-sensitive municipal electoral lists that take into consideration the role and participation of women in such elections. Similarly, in the Shuf area, the Social Services Committee for Iqlim Al Kharoub, organized yesterday a meeting entitled ‘the role of women in municipal work and civil society’, during which engineer Sara Abdallah encouraged the nomination of women who make 70% of society, while lamenting their “marginalized role as a result of the dominating male chauvinist mentality.” In the same vein, the United Nations Special Coordinator in Lebanon, Sighrid Kaag disclosed after a meeting with the interior minister that there is a genuine opportunity for women to run for elections and for voters to vote for them.

Al Diyar, Al Akhbar, Al Mustaqbal, April 28, 2016

 

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Preliminary observations on women’s participation in 2016 municipal elections
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