LIBYA: POLITICS: Libyan women hope to win a seat in Libya's first elected National AssemblyI in a generation.

Record ID: 346598

  • Title: LIBYA: POLITICS: Libyan women hope to win a seat in Libya's first elected National AssemblyI in a generation.
  • Date: 5th July 2012
  • Summary: TRIPOLI, LIBYA (JULY 4, 2012) (REUTERS) LIBYAN WOMAN CANDIDATE EBTISAM AL-ZAWI CONDUCTING A DOOR-TO-DOOR CAMPAIGN AHEAD OF JULY 7 ELECTION CLOSE OF LIBYAN FLAG FLYING VARIOUS OF ZAWI AND HER TEAM KNOCKING ON RESIDENTS DOORS, SPEAKING TO LOCALS AND HANDING OUT BROCHURES (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) EBTISAM AL-ZAWI, A LIBYAN WOMAN RUNNING FOR PARLIAMENT IN LIBYA'S FIRST POST-GADDAFI ERA VOTE, SAYING: "It is better to take to the streets, meet the people and tell them who we are, tell them about our party and what it does and what it can give. A face-to-face conversation, and direct dialogue, is always a faster and more effective way of getting the message across than an impersonal poster hanging on the wall." VARIOUS OF ZAWI GOING FROM DOOR TO DOOR, TALKING TO RESIDENTS AND HANDING OUT ELECTION BROCHURES LAMIA LABIB, ZAWI'S ASSISTANT, WALKING IN STREET LABIB CANVASSING VOTES CLOSE OF RESIDENT LOOKING AT CAMPAIGN BROCHURE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) LAMIA LABIB, ZAWI'S ASSISTANT, SAYING: "We were sincerely welcomed by the families because most of them have been kept away from this kind of thing (national elections). Thank God, we found a warm welcome and much interest." VARIOUS OF CAMPAIGNING POSTERS IN TRIPOLI VARIOUS OF DEFACED PICTURES OF WOMAN CANDIDATES WIDE OF TRIPOLI JUNCTION VARIOUS OF SABOTAGED POSTER OF WOMAN CANDIDATE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE JUNCTION
  • Embargoed: 20th July 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Libya
  • Country: Libya
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVABL2U2E7BYT6FVA38UHLEB2ANF
  • Story Text: Libyan women hope to secure a seat in the nation's first elected National Assembly in a generation, which will appoint a government and be entrusted in writing down the country's new constitution.

    Dozens of Libyan woman who are running for a seat in Libya's National Assembly in the nation's first vote in a generation, hope to bring about a change after 42 years of authoritarian rule.
    On Wednesday (July 4) candidate Ebtisam al-Zawi and her assistants embarked on a door-to-door election campaign in the narrow streets of Tripoli to explain her cause and canvass for votes. The group of women knocked on residents' doors and handed out campaign leaflets.

    "It is better to take to the streets, meet the people and tell them who we are, tell them about our party and what it does and what it can give. A face-to-face conversation, and direct dialogue, is always a faster and more effective way of getting the message across than an impersonal poster hanging on the wall," Zawi told Reuters.
    The 200-member assembly is set to be elected on July 7 to appoint a government and draw up a constitution after the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi last year in a NATO-backed rebellion.
    With political parties banned even before Gaddafi seized power in 1969, Libyans have precious little experience of anything resembling democracy.
    Zawi's assistant, Lamia Labib, said many of the locals are entirely new to the election process.

    "We were sincerely welcomed by the families because most of them have been kept away from this kind of thing (national elections). Thank God, we found a warm welcome and much interest."
    According to official data, a total of 625 women will be running for parliament, both as independents and as party members. At least a total of 3,000 Libyans -- both men and women -- are running in the elections.
    The vote is expected to usher in a diverse assembly filled with independents representing competing local interests. It will also be a test for Islamist parties, which have enjoyed success in Tunisian and Egyptian elections after last year's Arab Spring uprisings.
    Meanwhile in the streets of the capital many posters of women candidates have been defaced and sabotaged.
    As the historical vote nears it appears that in the post-Gaddafi Libya women have made a significant advance. However they are still fighting for their place in a largely conservative society.
    Opportunities from the Arab Spring to boost the low number of women in parliaments are being missed, an international Geneva-based organization of parliaments has said.
    Despite pro-democracy protests toppling leaders in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, the Arab region was the only area in the world without a parliament of at least 30 percent women, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union's "Women in Parliament 2011" study, published in March.
    It said that countries in transition can very effectively take advantage of reforms to guarantee strong participation of women in politics. However those opportunities were not being seized in the Arab regions, where women made up 10.7 percent of parliamentarians in 2011, unchanged from 2010.
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