Political parties should nominate women, sufficient to fulfill 25% quota at LG poll – Convenor GEWG

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by PRIYAN DE SILVA

The need to compel political parties to nominate women sufficient to fulfill the entirety of the 25% quota and beyond at the forthcoming Local Government election was underlined by Convenor of the Gender and Elections Working Group (GEWG) Kanaka Abeygunawardena at a press briefing held on Monday (09).

She said that by enacting the Local Authorities (Amended) Act No 1 of 2016, the government had established a 25% quota and created the opportunity for women to enter politics at the local level.

Abeygunawardena said that at the last local government poll political parties had fulfilled the mandatory requirement by nominating the kith and kin of established politicians and close associates and said it was imperative that women who are already politically active be given priority over family members of established politicians when selecting nominees for the next LG polls.

GWEG is made up by a group of civil society organisations working on increasing women’s electoral participation in Sri Lanka.