PAKISTAN

Pakistan electoral reforms aim to boost women’s participation in politics

March 1, 2017

Pakistan’s National Assembly is expected to pass a series of electoral reforms intended to increase the participation of women in politics.

The reforms would make it mandatory for political parties to allot five per cent of their tickets to women candidates. They were approved on Feb 7 by the federal cabinet, the country’s highest decision-making body.

Under Pakistan's constitution, women are guaranteed seats through a quota system in the national parliament and regional assemblies in Punjab, Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces.

At present, 60 out of 342 seats in the National Assembly, or lower house of parliament, are reserved for women with a further 137 seats reserved for women in the four provincial assemblies.

Women’s rights campaigners welcomed the move by the cabinet of ministers, headed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, but said the quota should be increased to at least 10 percent.

In January, the Senate passed a law requiring a re-election in constituencies where women’s turnout is less than 10 per cent in an effort to address disparities in the number of women who go out to vote in the socially conservative country.

#22054 Published: February 14, 2017