August 19, 2006	Saturday	Rajab 23, 1427

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PESHAWAR, Aug 18: A group of women representing different district councils and various organisations said here on Friday that electoral violence kept many women away from participating in the electoral process and casting their vote on the election day.

“My experience with the local government election is so far horrible. All I saw at the election day was violence against women, the polling staff was very abusive and overall the environment was discouraging for women voters,” said Rubina, a district councillor from Peshawar.

“I went to cast my vote once but the elections at the polling station were stopped because of charges of rigging. I never want to cast my vote again,” said Zarmina from Charsadda.

Poor law and order situation at the polling stations, abusive staff and rowdy polling agents and supporters of the candidates was the reason many women voters were discouraged to use their right of franchise, women participants said at the focus group discussion with women, which was organised here by PILDAT, a research and training institute working to strengthen democracy and democratic institutions in Pakistan.

Women participants at the discussion, which is part of the UNDP study on electoral violence and electoral disputes resolution in Asian Pacific countries, said that lack of security, no female polling staff and no women police, untrained polling staff and lack of political awareness among women voters were the main reasons for the disinterest shown by a majority of women.

Miss Nusrat, a district councillor from Mardan, said that supporters of the candidates usually harass women voters and create law and order situation when they know they are losing.

“Herds of women voters are taken at the polling station usually just before the polling by male candidates has ended if their votes were needed to win,” she said.

A woman, Shad Begum from Dir district said that electoral violence starts at home when the male members of the family do not let their womenfolk cast their votes on election day, adding that women voters and even females appointed as polling staff are threatened by the local leaders of various political parties not to cast votes and female polling staff is verbally told not to appear at the polling station on election day.

She said: “Women don’t come to poll their vote for fear of the consequences they would face if they defied their male members and the local political leaders.”

She criticised all political parties’ heads for not taking action against those politicians who had been stopping women from casting their votes.

Rakhshinda Naz, a women’s rights activist, said that there were about 3,524,296 registered female voters in 24 districts of the NWFP province but still their right to vote was not ensured. The elections should be declared null and void if the women of a particular area were stopped from casting their votes, she said.