Public urged to forget party politics and: Vote for women
by Dhaneshi Yatawara
Women activists are urging the public to vote for at least one woman
candidate, at the August 17 polls, irrespective of the political party
they represent. Enabling more women to enter the Parliament, the
activist say, will further empower the female population of thecountry.
The appeal was made at the launch of 'Vote for Women' joint media
campaign by the Woman and Media Collective, Search for Common Ground and
Association of War Affected Women. The campaign seeks to directly
support the political campaigns of women contestants from all political
parties.
The 'Vote for Women' campaign is of three variations - i.e. a theme
song, a 30 second dialogue free cartoon advertisement and a social media
campaign on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The theme song was written by Seetha Ranjini, a leading women's
activist and the Convener of the Free Media Movement. The cartoon will
be offered to TV stations free of charge.
The organizers claim that based on the statistics available, under
the current electoral system there is a maximum chance of sending 15
women candidates to Parliament this August. Of 6,150 candidates
contesting the August 17 polls, only 556 are women.
An all women party is contesting from the Nuwara Eliya District under
the flag of the Citizens Front. At 17.8 Nuwara Eliya also has the
highest percentage of women candidates.
However, in terms of numbers, Colombo District, with 147 women
candidates has the higher number of female contestants.
"Under the current electoral system much improvement cannot be
expected in women representation," said the Executive Director of the
Women and Media Collective, Dr. Sepali Kottegoda.
Research Associate of the Women and Media Collective, Kumudini Samuel
said the current preferential voting system together with the
Proportional Representation leave the winning chance only to the rich
and the famous candidates.
"The UNP has 16 female candidates contesting and one from the
national list, the SLFP has 16 females contesting, TNA has two, JVP has
11 and four on the national list and another Tamil party from the North
has nominated nine women on their list," Samuel pointed out.
Visaka Dharmadasa, representing the Association for War Affected
Women said an adequate number of women should be in Parliament where the
country's future is decided. "As a country, we are trying to establish
sustainable peace. Women in decision making levels can make an effective
contribution," she said, adding that with more women in politics there
will be less violence as well.
The Association for War Affected Women was directly supporting the
women candidates of all parties who are contesting for the first time,
getting involved with their campaigns at the ground level. |