07 May, 2013
129.8% increase in women contesting election
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By Myra Imran
ISLAMABAD: The final list of candidates, as made available by the Election Commission Pakistan (ECP), depicts 129.8 per cent increase in the number of women contesting election 2013 on general seats as compared to elections 2008.
According to statistics collected by The Researchers (TR) and shared by Executive Director TR Aazar Ayaz, there will be 147 women contesting election 2013 on general seats from 105 National Assembly constituencies whereas at provincial level, 301 women for 203 constituencies will contest on general seats.
In 2008, 195 Women contested elections as against 448 for 2013. There is an increase of 153.2 per cent if compared with women who stood on general seats in 2002 elections.
Similarly in 2008, 25 (National Assembly (NA) - 15, Provincial Assembly (PA) -10) women were elected on general seats and out of them 18 (NA-11, PA-7) are re-contesting in 2013.
When the same is compared with 2002 general elections 14 (NA-9, PA-5) are contesting again on general seats. Interestingly, in National Assembly 5 women are contesting from more than one constituency, for provincial assembly seats 6 women are contesting from more than one constituency while 16 women are contesting from both national and provincial constituencies.
The Researchers is a research based national NGO that has been documenting women political empowerment especially their electoral participation since 2002 in Pakistan through election observation of women contested constituencies.
The TR, with its regional partners, undertook similar initiative in Nepal and Bangladesh in the year 2008. For 2013 it joins hand with Pakistan Governance Forum (PGF) and Women and Politics in Asia Forum (WPAF) to bring out an analytical gender observation report focusing women in 2013. The report will contain primary data, historic co-relation and performance of women contestants in Election 2013.
As per the data analysis for the National Assembly the situation is as follows:
Provinces/Areas |
Contesting Women |
Constituencies |
Punjab |
90 |
66 |
Sindh |
37 |
24 |
Khyber Pakhtunkhawa |
14 |
10 |
Balochistan |
3 |
3 |
Islamabad |
2 |
1 |
FATA (As first ever-female candidate) |
1 |
1 |
Total |
147 |
105 |
21 Political Parties giving 60 Tickets while 87 are Independent Candidates |
2008 General Elections |
73 |
64 |
7 Political Parties gave 41 Tickets while 32 were Independent Candidates |
2002 General Elections |
58 |
48 |
12 Political Parties gave 38 Tickets while 20 were Independent Candidates |
For the Provincial Assemblies the situation is as follows:
Provinces |
Contesting Women |
Constituencies |
Punjab |
169 |
116 |
Sindh |
94 |
59 |
Khyber Pakhtunkhawa |
27 |
20 |
Balochistan |
11 |
8 |
Total |
301 |
203 |
31 Political Parties giving 111 Tickets while 190 are Independent Candidates |
2008 General Elections |
122 |
115 |
6 Political Parties gave 37 Tickets while 85 were Independent Candidates |
Total |
119 |
101 |
20 Political Parties gave 52 Tickets while 67 were Independent Candidates |
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