All Parties Contesting Polls Ensure 5% Women Candidate Quota

Chairperson Punjab Commission on Status of Women (PCSW), Fozia Waqar Monday said, the upcoming general elections 2018 was providing a great opportunity to women to participate in deciding future leadership of Pakistan.

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Jul, 2018 ) :Chairperson Punjab Commission on Status of Women (PCSW), Fozia Waqar Monday said, the upcoming general elections 2018 was providing a great opportunity to women to participate in deciding future leadership of Pakistan.

She said that to facilitate women, Punjab Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW) working on all available fronts in Punjab to ensure that women maximum female voter turnout.

Towards this end, PCSW team of almost 50 people would be observing the elections at various polling stations in all districts of Punjab to assess whether women have been given the opportunity to participate in the upcoming elections, she added.

While addressing the media, Chairperson Fozia Waqar told that PCSW has also written letters to political parties and the Election Commission of Pakistan to ensure that all parties contesting the elections were meeting their requisite 5% quota of women candidates on general election seats.

Fozia Waqar further said that PCSW realized that the low female voter turnout resulted in large part from a lack of security for women at polling stations. To rectify this, PCSW written to the Inspector General, Punjab to ensure that all polling stations have female security personnel, chairperson added.

She said that letters have also been written to Divisional Commissioners to further gender-sensitize the electoral process, on which a committee (inclusive of PCSW Divisional Coordinators) has been formed and adequate measures are being taken by district administrations.