About 17% seats reserved for women in Islamabad local polls uncontested

The participation of women in Pakistan remains negligible as about 17 per cent of seats reserved for women in the Islamabad local government polls have remained uncontested, as none of the political parties were able to field candidates on these seats, Dawn stated on Tuesday citing a report.

According to the study, of the 434 women nominated, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) fielded the most candidates (32pc), followed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), with a 25pc share. According to it, PPP nominated 11 candidates.

"It could be attributed to the failure of political parties, women groups, and civil society," the report stated, adding that as many as 434 women were contesting elections on 202 seats reserved for them i.e. two each in all union councils.

The PTI and PML-N submitted the same number of candidates for seats reserved for minorities, according to the report, although the Jamaat-i-Islami and PPP nominated 12 and six candidates, respectively. In total, 55 (56pc) of the reserved seats for minorities are still empty, according to Dawn.

According to the article, PTI has nominated more candidates than the combined slate of PPP, PML-N, and JUI-F candidates, suggesting that the party has "deeper roots in rural as well as urban union councils of Islamabad."

The report exhorted the political parties to set up local party chapters.

Additionally, it stated that women's organizations, the labour movement, and civil society should play their proper roles to ensure that members of underrepresented social classes can run for office and defend their representation and power.

"Quality of candidates ensures the quality of elections and that leads to good governance. To achieve this goal, the Election Commission needs to improve its capacities to assess and scrutinise nomination papers rigorously," Dawn said, referring to the report.