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.