Deputies on the opposition bench boycotted the extra-ordinary
parliamentary session as a sign of their anger against the bills. They are not
alone in their anger, as religious leaders earlier expressed concern for the
enforcement of such a law in a pre-dominantly Muslim society.
Serigne
Bousso Dieng, the Chairman of the association of religious leaders in Senegal
faulted the country's women intellectuals for advocating for gender parity which
is not in tandem with the realities of the society.
But the Senegalese
Interior Minister, Ousmane Ngom, who tabled the bill in parliament, defended
that since women form majority of voters in the country, it is therefore fair
for them to be adequately represented in parliament.
He described the
passing of the as yet another victory for Senegalese democracy.
Under
the new bill, 30 women MPs shall be appointed from the national list, which
obviously doubles their representation in the next parliament. At present, 23
out of the 120-member parliament are women.
In her reaction to the bill,
the chairwoman of the national movement of socialist women, Aminata Mbengue
Ndiaye, urged the government to extend the gender parity law to cover national
and departmental lists of parliamentary polls.
By staff writer
© afrol News