Disputes have arisen over new legislation setting a quota for female representatives in parliament. Spokesmen for the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) of President Hosni Mubarak describe the quotas as a milestone for women’s rights, but some critics say the move threatens to create more problems than it solves.
"The move has opened up a Pandora’s box of side issues," Amr Hashem Rabie, expert on parliamentary affairs at the semi-official Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies told IPS. "Along with questions as to its constitutionality, the new law has encouraged other groups to demand their own parliamentary quotas."
The NDP’s majority in parliament approved legislation last month to create 64 new parliamentary seats reserved for female MPs. The move, which amended a 1972 law regulating parliamentary activity, will raise the number of seats in the assembly from 454 to 518.
The NDP currently controls roughly four-fifths of the seats in parliament. The Muslim Brotherhood opposition movement has most of the rest. Some secular opposition parties and independent MPs have a few between them.
The new quotas will be applied in parliamentary elections scheduled for October of next year. According to officials quoted in the state press, 32 new electoral districts will be created in which only female candidates can contest. Four additional seats will be reserved for women representing densely populated urban governorates including Cairo, while another two seats will be allotted to women representing Egypt’s rural governorates.
Source: AHU – David A-O