The 13th parliamentary election was held last Thursday, 12 February. This time, seven women were elected. The same number of women had been elected in the 8th parliamentary election held in 2001.

Women who participated in the election believe that misogynist campaigns and discriminatory treatment of women during the election influenced the votes for female candidates.

Regarding the lower number of nominations for women in this election, party tendencies were similar to before. Around the July movement, women’s rights activists had expected a higher rate of nominations for women.

However, despite strong objections from women’s rights activists, political parties agreed with the National Consensus Commission to allocate 5 per cent nominations to women. Even then, the parties did not fulfil that commitment.