PETALING JAYA: A women’s NGO said the number of female candidates identified for the 15th general election (GE15) in Peninsular Malaysia fell below the 30% mark promised by political parties.
GAP Malaysia (GAP.MY) said women only made up 10% of Umno’s candidates, while MCA’s female candidates comprised 16%. The number of female candidates identified by PKR, meanwhile, came up to 19.4%, it noted.
GAP.MY went on to urge parties to meet the 30% mark.
“And they must be fielded in winnable seats, not just to meet the quota,” it said in a statement.
The NGO added that in the long-term, lacking women representation in policy making would lead to sociocultural issues as close to half the population of Malaysia were women.
Women also made up 50% of total voters, it said.
Last week, a coalition of women NGOs called on political parties to field women in “winnable” seats in GE15 and not treat them as “tokens”.