„Tunisia’s parliament overwhelmingly passed a bill on Wednesday that will greatly help the country to increase female representation across the country at next year’s March 2017 local elections. The new laws will see parties or blocks put forward an equal number of male and female list leaders, which should step up representation.(…) The law was supported by 127 MPs, with three against and four abstaining, although not all MPs turned out to vote. The shift, say advocates, marks a leap for Tunisia – which already has one of the highest proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments compared to other countries in the region – and sets the country’s female politicians on a course for even greater influence.
Supporters of the bill stress that it will particularly help female politicians in the country’s interior and southern regions that have been traditionally disconnected from the capital. (…) Tunisia’s constitution, adopted following the overthrow of former preside Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, states that the country must strive to establish total equality between men and women.“
(Conor McCormick-Cavanagh: „Tunisian parliament passes gender parity bill for local elections“)
