Political parties in Algeria are struggling to get enough female candidates to fill in the quota required for the parliament.
According to the report by AP, the Algerian law requires at least 30 percent women in the parliament under a 2012 law championed by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to promote women in politics.
In a struggle to get the 145 women in parliament for the 462 member parliament the parties are reaching out to journalists, teachers and other female professionals to try to persuade them to join male rivals who are clamoring to run for parliament, notably attracted by the political power and financial privileges of a legislative seat.
“I was never involved in political or union activity, but I was always interested in politics, through newspapers, television. I don’t know what parliamentary work consists of, but the challenge interests me a lot,” retired teacher Aziza Boudia said. The Algerian National Front party asked the energetic 55-year-old to be the No. 2 candidate for the party’s list in Boumerdes east of Algiers.
According to a Sociologist Nasser Djabi the lack of women in politics is a “problem of society. Further stating, that Algerian political parties are macho and haven’t invested in promoting women in politics.
“We have received 6,228 dossiers from candidates overall, but barely more than 100 from women,” Djamal Ould Abbas, general secretary of the majority FLN party, said two weeks before Sunday’s deadline
