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Role of political parties in promoting women’s electoral participation
18-1-2018
The office of the minister of state for women’s affairs and the United Nations in Lebanon jointly organized yesterday a conference on ‘Fostering the role of political parties in promoting women’s representation in 2018 elections’. The conference stresses the inclusion of women nominees on parties’ electoral lists to ensure an effective and comprehensive participation in the upcoming elections. Minister Jean Ogassapian said on the occasion that in the absence of a quota for women in the new electoral law, his ministry has developed a national work plan aimed at strengthening women’s involvement in the political life and upping her leadership role, as well as, backing her to reach decision-making positions. For her part, the Acting UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Pernille Kardel, called on the Lebanese political parties to work harder to realize the right of women’s political engagement in the elections. Similarly, EU Ambassador Christina Lassen said, “political representation means representation of women, hence, it is both necessary and fair to engage women in these elections.” The event also included a roundtable discussion with representatives from seven political parties represented in the Parliament. Viewpoints of respective parties on the issue varied. While Rima Fakhri, representing Hizbullah, expressed reservations on nominating women, Manal Saeed, for the Progressive Socialist Party, argued that the male chauvinistic view still reigns in rural areas, and therefore political parties need to take this view into consideration when recruiting a candidate. Amal Movement representative. Ali Rahhal, on the other hand, empathized the importance of inclusion of women, but said the current mentality toward women should change first. The Free Patriotic Movement MP, Simon Abi Ramia, said women should force themselves into politics within a patriarchal society, as male candidates have better chances to win. (Al Diyar, Al Mustaqbal, Al Hayat, January 18, 2018)
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- العربية
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