The Central Elections Commission in cooperation with the Arab Network for Women in Elections celebrated on Thursday 25/11/2021; the launching of the regional campaign aimed at strengthening Women’s Participation in the Elections. The latter is supervised by the ArabEMB’s and coincides with the 2021 Palestinian local elections.
A delegation from the Independent Election Commission in Jordan, headed by Dr. Khaled Kalaldeh, participated in the ceremony. In addition to CSO’s, the representatives of Political parties and factions, activists in women’s rights and media representatives.
The campaign aims at coordinating all regional efforts created to strengthen the participation of women in the elections, and at highlighting the challenges that forbid them from doing so. In addition to rallying up support, advocacy and influence over the Public opinion, to support women’s electoral participation in an electoral environment that ensures a just, free and a safe participation. Furthermore, it aims at eliminating electoral discrimination against women, and creating an environment and implementing systems that support and solidify a balance between the sexes in life in General.
CEC chairman Dr. Hannah Nasir, emphasized in his opening speech the CEC’s interest in motivating the active participation of all societal groups in the elections, and especially that of women. Indicating, the CEC is harnessing all of its capabilities and technical and financial capacities to make this national campaign succeed, in cooperation with CSO’s and official Institutions. Dr. Nasir also praised the ArabEMB’s for their leadership in making a change; ensuring a holistic and just electoral participation for all societal groups and especially for women. He also thanked the Independent Election Commission for supporting the campaign’s activities, and commended the sponsors and organizers of this event.
Dr. Khaled Kalaldeh, Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Independent Election Commission in Jordan, applauded in his speech the launching of the campaign on a Palestinian scale, emphasizing the importance and the value of coming to Palestine, which coincides with the official Jordanian position, and that of the Jordanian public in supporting the people of Palestine. He also accentuated, that the Palestinian woman, who gave birth to patriots, has a right to be trusted in being active in political life. Accentuating as well, his trust in the Arab woman in general and especially the Palestinian woman to lead, and hold the highest political and administrative positions. He also, announced that the campaign will launch on a regional level in Amman, Jordan during mid-December.
CEO of ArabEMBs, Dr. Hisham Kuhail pointed out that the Arab Network for Women in Elections was created in 2019 to show interest in strengthening women’s participation in political life. Indicating that the Central Elections Commission in Palestine will lead the initiative in coordinating with and motivating its partners; from Political parties and factions, official institutions, CSO’s and Media institutions in making interventions, and in providing all the administrative, practical and financial resources to serve the goals of the campaign. Adding that the ArabEMB’s and its Executive office will continue to support the Arab Network for Women in Elections; its strategy, and its purposeful programs aimed at creating an electoral environment that ensures a free and just participation for women in the Elections.
The president of the Arab Network for Women in Elections, Ms. Suhair Abdeen indicated that this campaign is created to strengthen the role of Palestinian women in political participation, especially in the Elections. She praised the contributing efforts of the local and arab institutions in launching the campaign in conjunction with the Palestinian Local Elections. She also highlighted the stages that the Network has gone through since its creation in 2019, up until its launching today.
The ceremony included presentations of success stories for women who participated in the elections as well as statistics about the participation of Palestinian women in the Elections. In addition to a number of artistic and folkloric segments that also talked about the importance of women’s political participation in the Elections.
It is worthy of mentioning that the Arab Network for Women in Elections, is an entity that operates under the umbrella of the ArabEMB’s, and aims at strengthening the participation of women in the electoral process, through bringing together: electoral administrative bodies in member countries with CSO’s, and individual expertise on both local and regional levels.