Women’s representation in 2016 municipal elections: disappointing results

The vice-President of the National Committee for the Follow-Up on Women’s Issues (NCFUWI), Afifa Sayyid, expressed yesterday her disappointment over the results of this year’s municipal elections in terms of women representation notwithstanding all the efforts that have been made in this direction. The outcomes, Sayyid mentioned, were not markedly different that those of the former elections of 2010. Sayyid was speaking during the joint assessment day organized by NCFUWI and ABAAD association, under the heading, ‘a review of the municipal elections… women’s success and the pervasive obstacles’. The OXFAM-supported event, was aimed to discuss ways of improving and strengthening women participation in elections, knowledge exchange and planning for the future. Participants reviewed digital data on women’s shares in the latest municipal elections based on a study prepared by both organizing parties.  OXFAM program director, Viviane Korsten, considered that this year’s elections have seen the participation of some 1519 women nominees, at a 13% increase from the 2010 elections. Korsten maintained that this was positive although women represent hardly 6.9% of the total number of candidates. For her part, Fahmiyeh Charefiddine, the NCFUWI president, said political participation of women is a priority to realize gender equality, as it is the only way to restore their rights, stating that alienating women from public administration is both a political and cultural orientation. (Al Mustaqbal, August 31, 2016)