WUNRN
Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights – ECWR
Egypt – 2015 Parliamentary Election Shows More Decline in Male Candidates Compared to Female Candidates
(Cairo, February 24th, 2015) The Higher
Electoral Commission (HEC) announced a statement that includes the final number
of male and female candidates who submitted their nominations documents to run
in the 2015 parliamentary elections. The total number is 6467 male and female
candidates.
Out of the total number, 949 are female
candidates and 5518 are male candidates. The parliamentary elections in 2011
included a total number of 8113 candidates; 984 females and 7129 males.
Thus, the 2015 parliamentary elections witness
a significant decline of the number of male candidates comparing to female
candidates compared to 2011 elections, 22.5% decrease in males’ nomination
while 3.5% in females’ nomination.
This highlights the increasing number of active
women in the political sphere despite of the security risks and the field
difficulties.
Number of Female Candidates 2011/2015
ECWR appreciates the efforts of the Higher
Electoral Commission (HEC) that provides gender-sensitive information on
parliamentary elections, compared to previous years when information shared was
not disaggregated by gender.
ECWR considers this step as a response to its persistent demand
to have a gender-sensitive electoral database analyzing female to male
participation that can help ECWR in its monitoring and analyzing efforts.