Gender and Elections Working Group (GEWG) Convenor Kanaka Abeygunawardena at a press briefing held on Monday (09) reiterated 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.
She said that by enacting the Local Authorities (Amended) Act No 1 of 2016, the Government 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 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 precedence over family members of established politicians when selecting nominees for the next LG poll.
GWEG is made up by a group of civil society organisations working on increasing women’s electoral participation in Sri Lanka.
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