After shift, still few women in NA
The number of women serving as lawmakers in the next mandate has dropped from last term, even after parties made final adjustments that saw more women moved up into key positions. According to official results released by the National Election Committee on Sunday, women will hold 25 of 123 seats, or 20.3 per cent, compared with 22 per cent in the previous mandate. Before the adjustments were made, only 13 per cent (16 out of 123 seats) appeared to have won seats. The upward tick is primarily because of the incumbent Cambodian People’s Party shifting the ranking of candidates on its lists. The ruling party will have 18 of 68 seats (26 per cent) held by women compared with 21 of 90 (23 per cent) in the last mandate. The opposition, however, has only seven out of 55 (12.7 per cent) women – just one more than last term, when six of 29 (20.6 per cent) held seats. While the decrease in female parliamentarians is small, just two seats less, it demonstrates an urgent need for concrete governmental action, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights said yesterday. …
Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/after-shift-still-few-women-na
