Islah Female Chief Supports Greater Numbers of Female Candidates
Chief of female sector of Islah party Amat-alsalam Raja said that she is supporting demands calls for partnering woman as candidate at local elections that will be on 20 ,next September.she affirmed, at statement to “Sahwa net” that point of view of female sector of Islah party towards supporting woman and participating in political life is clear.
We are at the female sector uniting Our voices with demanded voices for the republic president to intervene for supporting woman at political life, she said.
Moreover , she charged ruling party with disappointing participation woman at local council election, being the only party that can approve legal modifications ensure participation of woman for nominating herself at local council elections.
So far, only 1% of candidates in the local elections are women, and while female voter registration is up, the level of women in representative positions has declined steadily over the last decade.
Updated figures on the candidates at the local level:
The overall number of applicants to run in the local council elections for seats on county councils has reached 11,000. For the local councils of provinces, the number of applicants has reached 900. These numbers represent applications that were registered within the first five days of the launch of the Applications Reception period, which began on 12 August and is scheduled to end on the 21st of the same month.
The president of the technical sector of the Supreme Commission for Elections and Referendum Mohammed al-Sayyani said that there were 4600 applicants from the ruling GPC party for the county councils and 1800 for the councils of provinces. The independent candidates are the second largest group. On the level of counties, 2500 independents submitted their applications for the councils of counties, and 120 applied for the provincial councils.
The Islah party had 1800 applicants for the counties and 100 for the provinces. The Socialist party had 38 applicants for the provinces and 397 for the counties. The Unionist Nasserite party had 65 for the counties. Al-Sayyani didn’t mention any number of applicants from other parties in the Joint Meeting Parties opposition bloc, which include the Union of Popular Forces and al-Haq parties.
“In the first five days of receiving the applications, the parties were cautious and each was waiting to see who the other parties’ candidate would be,” said al-Sayyani expecting a higher turnout of applicants, especially women applicants in the remaining few days. The president of the GPC’s outreach circle, Ahmed al-Zuheiri said his party has completed the submission of 90% of its candidates’ applications across the country. The GPC, he said, is seeking to grant a quota of 15% of the applications for its women members.
Opposition leaders said the JMP bloc would work together for their candidates in the different constituencies. Mohammed al-Ashwal, the head of the political circle of the Islah party, Sana’a city branch, said the JMP in the capital city has determined all its candidates according to the agreed JMP candidates list. The JMP would choose the most popular person they have in each constituency regardless of his affiliation to any of the parties forming the bloc.
In the 2001 local council elections, the GPC won 4091 seats, 284 of which were provincial council seats. Islah won 1534 seats, 85 of which were for provincial councils. The Socialist party competed for only 20% of the seats and won only 235 votes. The Nasserite Unionist party won 28 seats, versus two seats for al-Haq party and two seats for the Union of Popular Forces.
