Morocco: call for the support of female candidates in communal elections

The national coordination commission of women members of Moroccan political parties called authorities to take legal, financial and procedural measures to support female candidates in the coming communal elections, namely in constituencies adopting uninominal ballot.

In a memorandum circulated in Rabat, the commission voiced will to carry on working for an effective mobilization of women in various decision-making levels to guarantee an important female representation in legislative institutions, following the coming communal elections, due next June.

Morocco staged last September legislative elections that resulted in the election of 35 women to the Moroccan 325-seat House of Representatives (lower chamber of the Moroccan parliament).

Copies of the he memorandum were sent to the ministries of justice, interior, Human Rights, the secretariat of state in charge of women, as well as to the speakers of chambers of representatives and advisers.

The document further stresses that this call aims to make up for the quasi-absence of women in communal institutions, adding that the number of women elected during the last communal elections amounted to 0.34%, that is 84 women out of 24,600 communal advisers.

The commission recalled the importance of the coming elections in terms of upgrading the management of public affairs at the local level and consolidating democratic institutions.