General elections: Political parties nominate 275 women contestants: FAFEN

ISLAMABAD: Political parties have nominated 275 women candidates to contest the upcoming general elections on National Assembly and provincial assemblies’ general seats, which is 4.6 percent of the total 6,037 candidates the parties have fielded, the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) said in a report released here on Tuesday.

The report said according to Section 206 of the Elections Act, 2017 (Selection for Elective Offices), each political party is required to ensure at least five percent representation of women candidates while selecting candidates for general seats for elective offices, including membership of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) and the provincial assemblies, through a transparent and democratic procedure.

FAFEN’s analysis is based on the list of contesting candidates (Form-33) for national and provincial assemblies.

Of 111 political parties, as many as 30 have fielded five or more than five percent women on general seats, while four political parties have fielded between 4.50 and 4.99 percent of women candidates on general seats (that is statistically rounded-up to five percent), and the remaining 77 have fielded up to 4.50 percent women candidates on general seats.

The parties fielding less than 4.50 percent women candidates on general seats is higher since the applicability of this provision is technically effective only on political parties which field at least 20 candidates on general seats (as the five percent provision requires them to allocate ticket to at least one woman candidate). Only 35 political parties have fielded more than 20 candidates on general seats.

According to FAFEN, the level of adherence to the five-percent provision varies across the elective houses. For the National Assembly, 94 parties have allocated tickets for general seats to a total of 1,872 candidates that includes 92 women, making up 4.91 percent of women out of the total candidates fielded.

For the Punjab Assembly, 70 parties have allocated tickets to a total of 1,878 candidates, including 58 women (3.09 percent of the total). For the Sindh Assembly, 50 parties have allocated tickets to a total of 948 candidates, out of which 59 are women (6.22 percent of the total).

For the Balochistan Assembly, 37 parties have allocated tickets to a total of 533 candidates, out of which 19 are women (3.56 percent of the total). For the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, 44 parties have allocated tickets to 806 candidates, out of which 47 are women (5.83 percent of the total).

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024