Papua New Guinea PM wants to push for more women MPs
20th August, 2017
Parliament of PNG. Photo: AFP
Papua New Guinea’s prime minister says he’s looking to revive a proposal to reserve 22 seats in the country’s parliament for women.
No women were elected in recent elections, making Papua New Guinea one of the few countries with no female representation.
According to the newspaper, The National, Peter O’Neill told a business breakfast in Port Moresby last week he found this result disappointing.
He said he will discuss with his coalition partners and opposition MPs the prospect of re-tabling a bill that was defeated in 2014 that would ensure women’s representation.
The proposal will see two governors in each of the 22 provinces, and one of the co-governors will have to be female.
Mr O’Neill says the proposal would not stop women from contesting the other 89 open seats.
[Source: Radio New Zealand, 21 Aug 2017]