Consultative meeting with stakeholders organized by PODA on 15th July on the participation of women in elections and policy planning in newly-merged districts of KP was termed as “a timely action” by Ms. Nighat Siddique, expert on gender issues and Additional Director General of Election Commission of Pakistan. The event was held at National Council of Social Welfare, NARC Colony Islamabad.
Ms. Naheeda Abbasi, Regional Manager PODA, Chakwal, introduced the participants and elaborated upon the context and theme of the consultative meeting.
Ms. Nighat Siddique commented on the issues regarding participation of women in electoral process and steps taken by the ECP. She highlighted the previous and current practices of election in newly merged-districts of KP. She said the election for the provincial assembly seats is being held on 20th of July, 2019. With the efforts of the Election Commission, a huge number of registered voters would cast their vote. She shared that Section 9, Section 183 and Section 170 of the Constitution of Pakistan guarantee free and fair participation of women in electoral process.
She shared that the 8300 SMS service of the Election Commission of Pakistan was available for the registered voters to check the details of their vote registration. Ms. Siddique shared the analysis report regarding the voting trends among women. She said, in Balochistan the highest number of women used their right of vote independent of their family while the lowest percentage was in Islamabad.
She also shared that the ECP facilitated the voters including transgender, senior persons, pregnant women and differently-abled persons in general elections of 2018 but reportedly in some areas the facilities were not provided as per direction of ECP. She also talked about upcoming elections and said that only two women are contesting election on general seats out of the total 285 candidates. She also mentioned that for one minority seat quite a few women have submitted their nomination which is a good sign. She also informed the audience that the total 419 candidates submitted nomination papers out of which 285 were approved.
She shared that in seven districts there are total 2.8 million (1,130,000 female and 1,671,000 male) registered voters. Out of total 1897 polling stations 455 have been declared most sensitive and 510 polling stations have been declared sensitive. Total number of polling staff deployed on the polling stations is 3437. She said among 285 total candidates only 2 are women.
She shared that all polling stations will be monitored by CCTV cameras. The community representatives discussed the issues of low voting trend in newly-merged districts. They pointed out that in some localities there are no schools which can be used as polling stations and suggested that in such areas polling stations should be setup in Hujras (community meeting rooms) or mosques.
Ms. Nighat Siddique shared that the ECP has established complaint desk for redressal of grievances. She shared the following contact numbers 091-9222534, 091-9211041 and encouraged the participant community members to use the phone numbers in case of any difficulties on the election day or any time during the election process.
Mr. Nisar Ahmed, Deputy Chief Social Welfare, Ministry of Planning, Development & Reforms shared his views on Annual Development Plan and preparation of development projects in newly merged districts of KP. He spoke about the Rural Development, Gender and Development, Public and Private Institutions i.e. NGOs, CSOs, in Public Sector Plans and clarification of the project concepts for sustainable development.
Ms. Wajiha Akram, Parliamentary Secretary, Federal Education and Professional Training, shared her own experiences as a political activist in her area in Punjab province. She emphasized the need for empowerment of the women in political, economic and social sectors. She said the difficulties faced by women are centuries old and deep rooted in the society. She explained how she had to camouflage her political campaign for women under the cover of religious gathering or cooking classes because the men in the community were not ready to accept women as politically aware citizens. Expressing pain over the stranglehold of the traditional gender discrimination she recited the Urdu verse:
Ghair mumkin he ke haalaat ki guthee suljhay
Ahl-e-daanish ne bohut soch ke uljhaaee he
She said it’s the need of the time to change the general mindset for empowerment of the women. Opportunities should be provided to women at the grassroots level and the societal constraints can be removed through advocacy by empowered women.
Ms. Riffat Sardar, Chairperson KP Commission on the Status of Women, Peshawar discussed the role and mandate of KP Commission on the status of women. She expressed her views about the political participation towards the women empowerment. KP Commission on the Status of Women is striving to sensitize the Government and political leadership for better legislation for women development to create the equal opportunities for the women of newly merged districts of KP. She also said that she was working to set up a 24/7 helpline so that people can reach out to the commission with ease.
After exhaustive discussion the participants made the following recommendations:
1. Women in general and women of newly merged districts in particular, should be aware of the rules and laws which guarantee their participation in election and development planning. Women should participate in drafting of annual development plan
2. Actions should be taken to increase participation of women candidate in elections and greater acceptance of women in leadership roles. Political parties should be bound by law to give more tickets to women candidates
3. Election commission needs to better facilitate access to polling stations by providing more specific directions of the location.
4. People in some remote areas of tribal districts are not aware of the election process and do not have National ID cards. Government needs to reach out to those people to enable them to participate as voters.
5. Political parties should extend full support to women candidates in elections and should not discriminate against women.
In the end Ms. Kaukab Jehan Yasmin thanked all the participants who came from far of places. She also thanked National Council of Social Welfare for their generous support by providing the venue for the event. She expressed gratitude to the honorable guests who joined the session and provided valuable input and suggestions. She urged the participants to fully benefit from the complaint and support facilities offered by the Election Commission. She also requested the participants to share with PODA their experiences in election in newly-merged districts.