60 women will be running for parliamentary elections in Morocco
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Press Release
Rabat, 23rd November 2011
Gender Election Monitoring Mission (GEMM) Morocco
Women and youth are the ultimate catalyst for democratic transition,
60 women will be running for parliamentary elections in Morocco
"Arab Spring in the region has only speeded the process of reform that had begun a few years ago in Morocco", says El Yazami, president of National Human Rights Council, while addressing a closed meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to which Dutch gender and development organization Gender Concerns International was invited as a special guest.
Gender Concerns International will observe the 25th November polls in cooperation with various women's networks, civil society and human rights organisations in Morocco. The organisation will focus on observation that is directed to monitor other national and international missions with a perspective to comment on the inclusion of gender approach in their work.
During the meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Driss El Yazami, stressed that the process of democratic reforms in Morocco had started before the Arab Spring engulfed the region. In fact, the Middle Eastern and North African revolutions only helped speeding up the movement of democratic reforms that was already under way in Morocco, added El Yazami.
The president of CNDH also stressed that despite the fact that 80% candidates are newcomers in the election race, in fact almost 100% leadership of political parties remains in the hands of old political elite. He further enlightened the gathering by stating that the main beneficiaries of the Arab Spring are likely to be the women and the youth in the region.
In spite of promising expectations of increasing female inclusive governance in neighbouring countries, only 64 female candidates will be running for the elections this Friday. "This is indeed a worrying situation and poses series of challenges to women’s networks, civil society and human rights organisations in Morocco", comments Sabra Bano, director of Gender Concerns International, after an exclusive meeting with El Yazami at CNDH in Rabat. Both Gender Concerns International and the National Human Rights Council agreed to work on mutual grounds to support women’s networks, civil society and human rights organisations in post-election Morocco.
For more information, please contact Jana Ceremniha, in Rabat tel. +212656162007, email: jana@genderconcerns.org. You can also contact Sabra Bano, email: sbano@genderconcerns.org, tel. +212656160390. GEMM Morocco can be contacted at La Tour Hassan, 26 Rue Chellah Bp 14, Rabat, Morocco.