20pc should be women: Gelu

By LULU MAGINDE
ACCORDING to the revised Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates (Olippac), 20 per cent of members within a political party must be women.
Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates Commission (IPPCC) registrar Dr Alphonse Gelu said Olippac was not yet legally binding, however, parties had attempted to meet the requirement.
He named Pangu Pati, Triumph Heritage Empowerment Party, Social Democratic Party and the National Party as examples of parties working towards the quota system.
There are currently 46 registered political parties, 25 of which have candidates as members in Government and 21 without.
Revisions were made to the Olippac in 2017 in the hope of decreasing the number of registered political parties.
Through the proposed amendments to the Act, the registrar is aiming for political parties to be socially inclusive of women who intend to join parties and to encourage the support of existing female candidates within parties.
“Not all women are members of political parties, which is why women find it difficult when they are trying to contest,” Dr Gelu said.
In an effort to increase encouragement of female political participation, the commission has been promoting awareness of female candidates, hosting regional mentoring programmes and offering incentives to current political parties to endorse women.
An example of this was when the IPPCC raised awareness of female candidates during the 2017 elections to promote inclusion within political organisations and as a way for parties to take on board the interests of both men and women in the country.
Dr Gelu said the proportion of female candidates endorsed by parties in Papua New Guinea was the lowest in the Pacific and one of the lowest in the world.
“The make-up of legislators must also reflect the make-up of society,” he said.
He expects that there should be equal representation of the genders in all aspects of society.