Renewed efforts to boost women's participation in government and parliament

In its efforts to speed up the enactment of a new electoral law promoting women representation, a delegation from the National Commission of Lebanese Women (NCLW) led by vice chair, Randa Assi Berri, visited yesterday Nabih Berri, Parliament Speaker (PS) in his HQs. Randa Berri disclosed that the Commission has been since two years struggling to promote the participation of women in Parliament. Berri also pointed out that the said draft has been the subject of discussions and workshops with all the concerned women associations. “We have submitted a new draft law to PS, and are asking him to intervene on the following fronts: firstly, push for the appointment of women ministers in the forthcoming cabinet; secondly, establish a special ministry for women’s affairs”. In the same veil, political sources monitoring the consultations done by Prime Minister Designate Saad Hariri, revealed to Al Hayat newspaper, that Hariri is insisting on the representation on women in the cabinet, regardless the number of its members, and that he has informed all concerned of his wish to allocate a special portfolio for women and family affairs. The same political sources also revealed that in addition to women representation in the government, Hariri is also aiming at including in the new electoral law a 20% seat quota for women. (Al Mustaqbal, Al Diyar, An Nahar, November 15, 2016)