Morocco offers financial incentives to parties fielding female candidates

17/10/2008

As part of a government effort to boost legislative representation for Moroccan women, political parties with the most female candidates in the 2009 local elections will receive financial incentives.

By Imane Belhaj for Magharebia in Casablanca – 17/10/08

[Photo] Morocco will offer financial incentives to parties fielding female candidates to drive up women's participation in Moroccan politics

To drive up women's participation in Moroccan politics, the interior minister announced earlier this month that the government will offer financial incentives to the parties that successfully field the most female candidates in the local elections on June 12th, 2009.

The additional funds – the sum of which has not been disclosed – will be awarded upon announcement of the election results. This could lead to a rush by parties to identify and nominate qualified candidates.

The decision is part of Morocco's broader effort to motivate parties to improve women's representation in local administrations, corresponding with the women's movement's goal of occupying one third of the available seats.

Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa held a meeting on Friday (October 9th) with the Movement for One-Third of Elected Seats for Women for Equality, which brings together 1,000 Moroccan women's associations fighting to bring Moroccan women's rights in line with international conventions. During the meeting, Benmoussa highlighted the importance of women's participation in managing local affairs, noting that his ministry is formulating a strategy to ensure greater rights for women in this regard.

"Since its inception in 2005, the movement has been struggling to realise three main demands," said Khadija Rebbah, President of the Casablanca branch of the Moroccan Women's Democratic Association: "the implementation of a roll-based voting system, the adoption of a quota for women in electoral law and a demonstrated commitment by parties to nominate women."

Rebbah said roll-based voting is one way Morocco will improve women's participation, but it has yet to materialise. "We are thus very optimistic about the minister's promise to allocate financial incentives to parties whose female candidates win in the elections," she concluded.

Miloda Hazeb of the National Democratic Party is less convinced of the potential benefit of the financial awards. She told Magharebia that while it is a positive step, it does not provide parties with adequate determination or conviction to nominate women.

"What we really need," she said, "is a higher power to push parties to abide by an honour code, or a legal rule stipulating the nomination of women."

Hazeb said it is high time Morocco overcame the gender gap through a temporary affirmative action initiative. This legal discrimination would serve as a transitional phase until equal opportunity is achieved and legally enforced.

Anticipating resistance to the suggestion, Rebbah said critics "have no idea what is taking place in the international arena... democratic states that wish to engage women in [politics] are constantly enforcing quota systems or endorsing just voting modes and offering incentives to parties that nominate women".

The "One-Third" movement has already met with the ministers of social development and interior, and will continue to work with political parties in the coming days to articulate their agenda. Building on the victory of the 2002 elections, which produced the second-highest number of elected women in the Arab world, the movement aims to serve as a role model for other countries considering electoral quotas for women.

The next major meeting will take place between the women's coalition and a committee soon to be formed between the ministries of justice and the interior and the five leading Moroccan political parties. This committee will be tasked with assessing all available means of enhancing women's representation in local councils.