Women legislators want 21 additional seat created in the House

The Women’s Legislative Caucus of Liberia has presented a copy of a draft legislation seeking the creation of 21 additional seats in the House of Representatives to the National Elections Commission (NEC). The draft act is titled “Affirmation Act of 2016 For Equitable Participation and Representation.”

The Chairperson of the Caucus, Senator Jewel Howard-Taylor, made the presentation to Chairman Jerome G. Korkoya, Friday, February 26, 2016 when she led a three-member delegation of the Causus to the headquarters of the Commission.

The draft act which seeks the political participation of marginalized groups including women, youth and the physically challenged,wants 21 Special Legislative Constituencies to be established within Liberia for which additional 21 members of the House of Representatives shall be elected beginning with the 2017 Elections.

According to the draft act, 15 of the Special Legislative Constituencies will be exclusively allotted to Liberian women, with one in each of the 15 counties while 3 seats will be exclusively allotted to youths, one of which shall be a female.

The draft act further seeks the allotment of 3 Legislative seats to people with disabilities, one of which shall be a female, in concert with Section 9 of the 2005 Act creating the National Commission on Disability.
When approved by the Legislature, the act would take effect during the 2017 Elections.

Receiving the draft act on behalf of the Commission, NEC Chairman, Jerome Korkoya, informed the Women’s legislative Caucus that the Commission considers gender parity as a very important issue in electoral processes.

He said the Commission would examine the technical suitability and propriety of the draft legislation and make recommendations where necessary.