In partnership
with Karama, the Libyan Women's Platform for Peace (LWPP) organized an
urgent two-day consultation starting 6 June to address the recently-issued
electoral law which will govern the selection process for the
Constitutional Assembly in charge of writing Libya’s new constitution and
has been deemed an obstacle to inclusive representation. The consultation
brought together a range of national legal experts, women’s activists and
youth campaigners to align priorities and develop plans to lobby for an
alternative electoral law.
Over the two-day
consultation, the LWPP and civil society coalition coordinated a national
campaign and lobby for a more inclusive electoral law. The resulting
proposal, finalized this week, emphasizes the introduction of zipper lists,
which were successful in earning women nearly 17 percent representation in
Libya’s national assembly in 2012.
A
corresponding campaign “Together Men and Women We will Write our
Constitution,” has also been launched.
As outlined by a previous
press release shared on 30 April by the Libyan Women’s Platform for
Peace, the issuance of the electoral law of the Constitutional Assembly was
considered a rejection of Libyan women’s great struggle and sacrifice
during the February 17th Revolution, and of their current demand for equal
and full participation alongside their brothers in building a new,
inclusive and peaceful Libya.
According to the UN
Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) “The elections of 2012 serve as an
exemplary example of the positive impact of Special Measures on women’s
representation, not only for Libya but for the whole world. Therefore, [we]
urge the decision-makers and others concerned to consider adopting Special
Measures in the elections to the Constitution-Drafting Assembly.”
The coalition of
Libyan groups convened in early June--which included youth, civil society,
legal experts, women's rights activists and other influential
individuals--has identified critical areas of concern regarding the draft
of the electoral law as a whole. The six major themes of concern are: 1)
the lack of adequate mechanisms to ensure gender representation; 2) the
exclusion of persons holding dual citizenship; 3) the risk of incentivizing
political formation along tribal lines by restricting the electoral process
to the individual vote system only; 4) the ambiguity surrounding the
provision of the “independence” of candidates and their non-affiliation
with political parties, and the lack of any mechanism to identify such
affiliation; 5) the manner in which the simple majority vote system
influences the results of women and all minorities; and 6) the risk of
jeopardizing the democratic process underpinning constitutional drafting by
allowing armed revolutionaries to participate in the Constitutional
Assembly (there is a precedent already in the GNC and it has been
highlighted in the speech of resignation of the head of GNC).
The Libyan Womenʼs
Platform for Peace was formed by leading womenʼs activists in October
2011 to serve as a networking movement of civil society groups throughout
Libya. It convenes trainings, organizes advocacy activities and
serves as an information clearing house for womenʼs and youthʼs
activists and their allies throughout Libya. It comprises members from all
regions of Libya, as well as nationals and members of the diaspora.