WUNRN
Karama - 'Karama’ is the Arabic word
for dignity, as well as an initiative fueled by a coalition of partners as
constituencies to build a movement to end violence against women in the Middle
East and North Africa. http://www.el-karama.org/content/libyan-women-win-33-seats-first-national-assembly-elections-1952
LIBYA - WOMEN WIN 33 SEATS IN FIRST
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS SINCE 1952
Sixty-two percent of Libyans turned out for the elections, with over 1.7
million ballots cast and 3,700 candidates, including 624 women, running for
seats.
It was the first general election held in
The official results, released nearly ten days following the close of polls,
were another cause for celebration.
Unlike
"It is clear that
“It feels wonderful, especially now that we’ve changed
the whole equation of the Arab Spring.” commented Zahra’ Langhi of the Libyan Women’s Platform for
Peace.
Led by former interim Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril, the
National Forces Alliance, which is made up of at least 58 parties, won 39 out
of the 80 seats reserved for political parties.
Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Justice and Construction party won 17
seats, just over 21 percent of the party list 80 seats and 8.5 percent of the
total assembly. The National Assembly will be made up of 200 people in total
and will include 120 independents, the allegiances of whom are largely unknown.
But the greatest victory was for inclusion and representation of women. Forty
percent of the voters were women and women candidates won 33 seats—32 through
party lists and 1 independent. Women won approximately 16.5 percent of seats,
closer to the percentages of Western nations like
A total of 624 women registered as candidates—540 through political parties and
84 as independents. A number of women candidates planning to run as
independents reportedly crossed over to run for the 80 seats allocated to
political parties in order to benefit from built-in party support and
resources, as well as a higher chance of winning due to the “zipper list,”
which required parties to ensure that women were included on the lists in
alternating slots both horizontally and vertically.
Karama worked with partners in
Several women, who are affiliated to the LWPP, have run
as candidates in the elections. Two of the co-founders, Asma Seriaba and Amina
al-Meghairbi, won seats in the elections.
Ms. Seriaba who ran as a candidate in the political list of the National
Coalition in Surman shared, “In all cases whether running only or actually
winning a seat, women are victorious for they played a distinctive role in the
revolution and they will continue to do so in the stage of building the Libyan
constitutional state, which will uphold the rights and freedom of its citizens.
So we hope to become the voice of Libyan women’s ambitions and aspirations.”
Ms. al-Meghairbi, from the National Coalition in
In late 2011 and early 2012, the LWPP successfully lobbied for the
above-mentioned alternative electoral zipper list, which would guarantee women
half of the 80 seats set aside for political parties. However, the new
electoral law also included districting specifications that split up the 80
seats to ensure “proportional representation” such that the 40 seats was no
longer a guarantee.
Prior to the elections, the LWPP launched a campaign to lobby for fair
distribution of electoral districts calling for the 80 seats designated to
party lists to be selected in a single district national election. The final
election law, however, designated a proportional districting law where seats
were assigned to each district based on geography and eligible votes. The
division of constituencies into an odd number reduced opportunity for women’s
inclusion.
Still, the zipper list was a significant victory for
women and in a way, more meaningful than a quota. “It sends a stronger message
than only appointing women and giving them side seats. Women are engaged in all
the processes: not only seats in the national congress but also in the political
parties. This way it establishes that women from the very beginning—at the seed
of political life—established with political parties – and has as a condition
that women should be partnering with men,” remarked Zahra’ Langhi of the LWPP.
“If it wasn’t for LWPP’s partnership with the legal team that drafted the
alternative law , we wouldn’t have the presence of women, yet there is still
work to be done, said Langhi. “For the first time, women were there as founders
and partners of the political parties and now they need to continue this role,
leading the charge in government with regard to the constitution and national
reconciliation. “We want to empower women with the right tools to become agents
of peace and national reconciliation in order to become equal partners in
rebuilding
For more on the Libyan Women’s Platform for Peace, please
visit www.lwpp.org
and their Facebook Page.
Photo courtesy of UNDP under a Creative Commons license.