Former MP supports call for women’s seats

By HELEN TARAWA
FORMER Sohe MP Delilah Gore is supporting the move by the Government to include four regional seats for women in Parliament.
Gore was among the women candidates for the 2017 elections who attended the Women’s forum on Monday at the invitation of the Department of Religion, Youth and Community Development.
She was Sohe MP from 2012 and was appointed a Cabinet minister. She lost the seat in 2017.
“I am supporting the option for four region seats because women will go through the national election process, and if they perform well they can represent women in the region.”
Prime Minister Peter O’Neill who was the guest speaker at the forum told the women he was support the proposal for four guaranteed women’s seats in Parliament, possibly from the 2022 general election.
The condition is that the women have to contest a seat in their region, and the “best-performing” four candidates will be selected, even if they fail to win the seat they contested.
If passed by Parliament, the seats will result in the number parliamentarians increasing from 111 to 115.
O’Neill said the Constitutional and Law Reform Commission was visiting districts around the country to discuss the proposal with the voters.
The former president of the National Council of Women, Maria Kopkop, said welcomed the proposal and said it was overdue.
“These were some of the suggestions that we made and I am happy that the government has decided to follow this pathway. Women need a voice in Parliament and the suggestion to have the best contesting candidates is applauded,” she said.