Punjab women MPs concerned over proposed amendment in Election Act

ISLAMABAD: Women legislators from Punjab assembly demanded the federal government to reconsider the proposed amendment in Elections Act 2017, which provides political parties’ heads more leverage in selection of candidates for reserved seats.

During a workshop organised by the Trust for Democratic Education and Accountability and Free and Fair Election Network, the female legislators expressed concern over the proposed amendment which bound political parties to submit final priority list of candidates for reserved seats of women and non-Muslims within three days after the declaration of general election results.

“The amendment will compromise the merit for reserved seat candidates and must not be approved by the Parliament,” resolved the legislators, says press release issued here. The workshop was part of TDEA-FAFEN’s Women Leadership Development Program that sought to support women legislators returned to reserved seats to contest upcoming elections on general seats.

Speaking to the participants, former senator Farhatullah Babar said the reserved seats empowered the political parties’ leadership far more than it empowered women. He lamented the political parties’ habit of treating women politicians as proxy. He said that nearly all political parties avoided awarding tickets to women in the constituencies with strong party vote bank.

He urged the participants to understand their rights and privileges as legislators and exercise them to hold the government and political leadership accountable in the assembly. He lauded the legislators’ efforts to steer pro-women legislation in the assemblies.

Women legislators from both treasury and opposition benches took exception to the gender-based discrimination during the assembly’s proceedings. They claimed women parliamentarians on reserved seats were treated as mere numbers required to complete quorum or to win a majority vote.

CEO of TDEA Shahid Fiaz said women legislators could from the civil society’s expertise in diverse fields. Extending support to the legislators in building their interest-based constituencies, he said TDEA-FAFEN’s rich data on elections and governance could help legislators in their legislative and constituency duties.