Women’s organizations are continuing to work with political parties to provide training to help prepare female candidates to sit in National Parliament.
The Director of Patria Foundation, Laura Pina, said they were working with 10 political parties to provide leadership training to potential female candidates in the parliamentary elections later this year.
According to parliamentary election law, parties are required to include at least one woman per every three candidates listed for nomination.
Pina said the training was in relation to the daily duties of MPs so that if candidates were trusted to sit in parliament they clearly knew their role.
She said each political party had been asked to delegate a representative who had already been listed as a potential candidate.
Meanwhile, President of Timor-Leste Parliamentary Women’s Group (GMPTL)
Florentina Smith expressed her appreciation to the organizations for their efforts to promote women’s participation, but said political parties also had obligation to provide training to their candidates.
“I hope that the percentage of women will increase, but it depends on the job the do,” she said.
“If the parties work hard then they will have many people sitting in parliament, including a higher participation of women,” she said.
The percentage of women sitting in the National Parliament has continued to increase every five years. In the 2002 general election women represented 25% of candidates elected to parliament, increasing to 28% in 2007 and 38% in 2012.
Timor-Leste also has the highest rates of women’s participation in parliament in Asia.
