Proportional Representation Should Benefit Female Candidates
Proportional Representation Should Benefit Female Candidates
Changes to Kyrgyz election law making it obligatory for parties to nominate female candidates for parliamentary seats should help reduce the male domination of politics, say NBCentralAsia observers.
On June 20, Anara Niazova, the president’s special representative on gender issues in the Kyrgyz parliament, said that amendments to political party and election laws are currently being drafted to give women equal access to elected bodies.
The changes would mean that when a party nominates parliamentary candidates, one in three must be female.
Kyrgyzstan is currently the only Central Asian country with no women in its legislature.
Under the new constitution, when the next parliamentary election is held in 2010, 50 of the 90 seats will be elected from party lists according to the proportional representation system.
NBCentralAsia observers say the changes will help give everybody equal access to a political career, which has so far been lacking.
Tamerlan Ibraimov, director of the Centre for Political and Legal Studies, explains that the gross gender imbalance in the current parliament stems from an election system that until now has been based on directly elected, single-seat constituencies. Candidates need financial backing to get elected, and men tend to have this more than women.
“Unfortunately, the election system has until now allowed only businessmen to get into parliament,” he said.
Roza Aknazarova, the head of the El Yntymagy (People’s Unity) party, and coordinator of the Parliament of Political Parties, an umbrella grouping of 15 parties, says the party lists must be structured in such a way that male and female candidates are evenly interspersed.
“If male and female candidates alternate as you go down the list, then women will have an the opportunity to get into parliament by proportional representation,” she said.
Klara Ajibekova, head of the Party of Communists, adds that women need to be placed towards the top of each party list if they are to have a chance of winning seats.
However, political scientist Marat Kazakbaev argues that the only way to guarantee a fair chance for women is to introduce fixed quotas for their representation in parliament itself.
“At least at the initial stage, there should be preferential treatment. We need to debunk the popular stereotype that women shouldn’t hold positions of power,” he said.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
On June 20, Anara Niazova, the president’s special representative on gender issues in the Kyrgyz parliament, said that amendments to political party and election laws are currently being drafted to give women equal access to elected bodies.
The changes would mean that when a party nominates parliamentary candidates, one in three must be female.
Kyrgyzstan is currently the only Central Asian country with no women in its legislature.
Under the new constitution, when the next parliamentary election is held in 2010, 50 of the 90 seats will be elected from party lists according to the proportional representation system.
NBCentralAsia observers say the changes will help give everybody equal access to a political career, which has so far been lacking.
Tamerlan Ibraimov, director of the Centre for Political and Legal Studies, explains that the gross gender imbalance in the current parliament stems from an election system that until now has been based on directly elected, single-seat constituencies. Candidates need financial backing to get elected, and men tend to have this more than women.
“Unfortunately, the election system has until now allowed only businessmen to get into parliament,” he said.
Roza Aknazarova, the head of the El Yntymagy (People’s Unity) party, and coordinator of the Parliament of Political Parties, an umbrella grouping of 15 parties, says the party lists must be structured in such a way that male and female candidates are evenly interspersed.
“If male and female candidates alternate as you go down the list, then women will have an the opportunity to get into parliament by proportional representation,” she said.
Klara Ajibekova, head of the Party of Communists, adds that women need to be placed towards the top of each party list if they are to have a chance of winning seats.
However, political scientist Marat Kazakbaev argues that the only way to guarantee a fair chance for women is to introduce fixed quotas for their representation in parliament itself.
“At least at the initial stage, there should be preferential treatment. We need to debunk the popular stereotype that women shouldn’t hold positions of power,” he said.
(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)
