Close to 10% increase in women’s representation at LG bodies

• Number shoots from 1.9% before 10 Feb. 
• 535 women elected to councils, more to come under 25% quota
• 10 LG bodies exempt from fulfilling 25% quota

 By Chathuri Dissanayake

Marking close to a 9% increase in the number of women elected to local government bodies island-wide, this time voters have elected 535 women candidates to councils.

Women make up over 10 % of a total of 5,075 members who have been directly elected by their constituents, marking a significant increase from the 1.9% held by women before, Election Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya said yesterday.

In the Anuradhapura District local government bodies, all women who contested have been elected, sending 31 women to the council, while Kurunegala has recorded the highest number of women to have been elected from one district, voting in 45 women to the local councils. Ratnapura too has elected 31 women to the local bodies, Deshapriya said.  

The number of women sitting in LG bodies is set to increase further as political parties are required to fill 25% of the seats with women members from each party.

However, 10 local government councils have been exempt from meeting this quota under the prevailing regulations. Any party which did not earn 25% of the votes or has earned less than three seats will be exempt from including female members in their members list to make up for the mandatory quota for women, the Chairman explained.

There may be political parties that would have be forced to name only women in their members list to ensure that the council meets the 25% quota reserved for women.

“If the women fielded by the wining party have not won in their wards, then the parties which have lost will have to absorb the 25% quota,” Deshapriya explained, adding that this may lead to those parties having to nominate only women members to the council. However, the Chairman of the Election Commission fell short of outlining action to be taken in the event a political party does not follow this requirement as the move will force out many senior male party members to make way for female candidates.

Discussions focused on avoiding this issue also looked to do away with the compulsory quota for women, which brought on strong opposition from civil rights and women’s groups, forcing the idea to be shelved.

Deshapriya emphasised that the quota would be maintained in all local government bodies except for the councils that have been exempted. However, failure to fulfil the mandatory 25% quota will not prevent the council from functioning either, he said.

The returning officers of each district have called for nomination lists for each LG body to be sent in before 2 March and the Election Commission plans to gazette the names the following day, Deshapriya said. The term for all the councils will commence from 6 March as gazetted by the Local Government Ministry.