CAIRO: The National Democratic Party (NDP) is discussing a draft law that would increase the number of constituencies for both the People s Assembly and the Shoura council - limiting these new constituencies to female candidates only. Mufid Shehab El Din, minister of Legal Affairs and Parliamentary Councils, raised the issue in several press statements last week. The new draft law, if it is to be applied, aims at increasing women s representation in both the People s Assembly and Shoura council by allowing them to compete unopposed by male candidates in these constituencies, in addition to the regular elections against men in other constituencies. In support of the idea, Georgette Qelliney, member of the People s Assembly s legislative committee, told Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper that she has been calling for increasing women s participation in the parliament for the past eight years. Eight years ago, I proposed a draft law to apply a quota system but it was refused, she said. Qelliney explained that it is currently very difficult for women to compete against men for a seat in the parliament because the percentage of female representation doesn't exceed 1 percent. The quota system is a voting system that was devised by the British philosopher Michael Dummett where electors vote by putting candidates in order of preference. Hassan El Badrawy, chief of the legislative committee at the National Council for Women, told Daily News Egypt that the council is still studying the constitutionality of the idea but haven t agreed on it yet. He added that the council is studying the best electoral system that guarantees the best representation of women. Head of El Wafd party, Mahmoud Abaza supports the idea. It would be a great boost to women s representation and participation in the political life, he said. Others had a different view of the draft law. The constitution doesn't differentiate between men and women, however, the new amendments will allow the NDP to do so, Hamdy Hassan, member of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), told Daily News Egypt. The articles of the constitution conflict, while they gave the government the right to do what it wants; they also set a quota for women and another for Christians, he added. Hamdy added that political participation needs experience and women should have that before diving into the political arena. Without experience and practice, it will be a mess, he said. Moreover, several lawmakers deemed the draft law discriminatory and unconstitutional. Those who call for equality between men and women should know that an idea like this defeats the purpose, Tharwat Badawy, constitutional law professor told Al-Masry Al-Youm. He described the idea as the worst form of discrimination based on gender.
