Zubair Qureshi Islamabad
Out of 111 political parties contesting the general elections scheduled for tomorrow, Feb 8, thirty-four parties have fielded women candidates on general seats. According to the election watchdog, Free and Fair Election Network, among those 34 too, as many as 30 political parties have fielded 5pc or more women candidates on general seats, while four political parties have fielded between 4.50pc and 4.99pc of women candidates on general seats (statically rounded-up to 5pc), and the remaining 77 parties have fielded up to 4.50pc women candidates on general seats.
In total, 275 women candidates have been nominated to contest the upcoming elections on general seats, making up for 4.6 percent of the total of 6,037 candidates.
According to Section 206 of the Elections Act, 2017 (Selection for Elective Offices), each political party is required to ensure at least 5pc 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.
According to the analysts, this is a clear violation of the Election Act 2017, but the ECP has yet to take action against the political parties for not fielding women as per the required percentage of women candidates.
FAFEN report is based on the List of Contesting Candidates (Form-33) for National and Provincial Assemblies. 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 tickets to at least one woman candidate). Only 35 political parties have fielded more than 20 candidates on general seats.
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).
