Political parties urged to award 33 percent tickets to women

14 Dec, 2006

Aurat Foundation and its partner network of civil society organisations have called on the political parties to award at least 33 percent party tickets for general seats to women candidates during the next general elections.
According to a press release issued here on Wednesday, these organisations have called upon the political parties to ensure that these tickets are awarded to 'genuine' women political workers who have a track record of struggle for their parties.
These tickets should be in addition to the tickets to be awarded to candidates contesting on the 17 percent seats reserved for women in national and provincial legislatures, it was stated.
They also demanded that political parties should also allocate one third of their important party positions to women members, including representation in electoral boards, to bring women in the decision making process of parties as well as to mainstream them in the political and electoral processes.
"Political parties must ensure that their women's wings are also involved in the decision-making process of awarding tickets to women and other election-related activities", it was stated. The activists stressed that reserved seats for women should be filled through direct constituency-based elections, instead of current party lists modality.

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