Parties required to have women

 ONE tenth of the total members supported by a political party must be female candidates, according to the revised Organic Law on Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates (IPPC).

The requirement is compulsory by law and the number of women representatives and their leadership in the country’s political scene will be increased giving them a fair play in the decision making arena.  

This was one of the major changes undertaken in the OLIPPAC review to improve and strengthen the functions of political parties in the country. 

The proposed OLIPPAC says when a political party nominates its candidates it must acquire 10% of the total candidates as women candidates. 

Along with that provision a political party must also nominate not less than 10% of candidates from the total number of seats (111 seats) in Parliament.    

“This is because in the past political parties nominate only one or two. We would like to encourage more political party participation. 

“The requirement is high but we want to build you with capacity to meet it, in a way strengthen your capacities to be strong and growing political parties in the future,” IPPC senior legal officer Francis Lola said.

Lola told political party executives on Monday at a training workshop in Alotau, Milne Bay, that as part of improving political parties’ status and functions in the country the commission aimed to allow gender equality  in the decision making process.