Accra, Feb. 14, GNA - Four political parties with representation in parliament on Monday asked political parties to develop a Women's Fund to support women aspirants in parliamentary and presidential elections. This was contained in a statement in Accra by the Institute of Economi= c Affairs, (IEA) and copied to the Ghana News Agency at the end of a two-day workshop to develop a Woman's Manual on the theme 93A Woman's Manual t= owards increased Women's Parliamentary representation."

The statement said political parties should allocate 10 per cent of public funds to political parties directly to women aspirants and that the parties should significantly reduce filing fees for women contestants in parliamentary and presidential primaries, to publicly denounce the monetization of Ghana's election processes and institute internal party systems to discourage that practice.

It said political parties should institute innovative internal selection processes at the local level to assure fair election procedures and ensure equal opportunity for women to be elected at primaries. It also recommended that political parties work towards a target of 50 per cent representation of women at the level of the base structures and committees that chose candidates for primary elections. The statement recommended that newly created constituencies are reserved for women contestants only for a period of two consecutive terms and asked the parties to field women in at least 50 per cent representation of safe parliamentary seats, a safe seat being that the party has won in at least three consecutive general elections by a margin of over 50 per cent. The statement recommended that political parties retain sitting female MPs during successive parliamentary elections and replace sitting female MP= s who decided not to contest with other female contestants.

It also recommended that political parties maintain a database of women who had contested elections unsuccessfully and retain them in party activities and positions in order to sustain their interest in contesting. It recommended that political parties provide capacity building for women aspirants and capacity building support to women after they were successfully elected into parliament to ensure their effective participatio= n in parliamentary deliberations.

It recommended that political parties should advocate for legal backing for affirmative action and that political parties should back the Public Funding of Political Parties Bill. The statement recommended that political parties desist from sexist and abusive remarks directed at women aspirants as well as those seeking public office and apply the law on defamation of character to party leaders and members. 14 Feb. 11

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