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Attended by cabinet ministers, the Chairman of Puntland Transitional Puntland Electoral Commission, the Chairman of the Office of Puntland Human Rights Defender and representatives from civil society organisations, the meeting spotlighted barriers to women’s participation in the political process and what can be done to rectify the problem of female underrepresentation in Somalia.
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Puntland Minister for Women and Family Affairs Amino Osman Haji enumerated challenges facing women to become members of federal and sub-national legislatures.
Amino made mention of the progress made in women’s representation during the 2017, federal election although the 30% quota for women was not fully implemented.
She contrasted the state of female representation in the Federal Parliament and the Upper House with the low representation rate for women in parliaments of Federal Member States.
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Guled Salah, TPEC Chairman, who delivered a short speech at the meeting, briefed participants on preparations for the pilot local elections to be conducted in Puntland.
Guled said that voter registration would get under way in Puntland soon and had urged women to take part in the registration to exercise their right to vote.
Said Abdi Mumin, the Chairman of the Office of Puntland Human Rights Defender, had expressed a similar sentiment.
“Puntland State Government must guarantee the representation of women in legislatures in line with article 35 of the Puntland Constitution” Mumin said.
© Puntland Post, 2020
This article first appeared in the Puntland Post and is republished with permission
