Somalian Prime Minister Hussein Roble has said women aspirants at all levels of the coming October elections will pay half the official registration fees.
“The Council, in considering a request from women, has reduced the fee for [female] candidates for member of parliament by 50 percent,” said Mr. Noble
This means that female parliamentary candidates will pay $20,000, as opposed to the $40,000 required by the National Electoral Commission for Senate hopefuls, or $15,000 for the Lower House as opposed to $30,000. Presidential contenders will be required to pay $50,000.
Currently, women hold 24.07% of the proportion of seats in the upper house and 24.36% of the proportion of seats in the House of the People in Somalia. With this new statement, Somalia will be boosting women’s political participation and keeping to its target of reserving 30% of the seats in parliament for women.
