IPTÎSAM AXFÎR

Benghazi- Women in Libya are preparing for the 2021 Libyan general election to be held on 24 December. Dr. Abeer Amneina, a women’s rights activist and member Faculty of Economics, University of Benghazi, spoke to our news agency about women’s participation in politics and their political rights.

Talking about political rights of women throughout the history of Libya, Dr. Abeer Amneina said, “Women in Libya have had the right to vote since the monarchy period but according to the constitutional amendment, women have had the right to vote for 60 years. This situation continued until

“What happened was about the political developments”

Abeer Amneina commented on women’s participation in politics after Muammar Gaddafi's coup in 1969, “Women's participation in politics was recognized and women were told their participation rights were guaranteed. However, the system didn’t support women’s participation in congresses and committees. After the February Revolution in 2011, equal participation in politics for women and men was guaranteed by the constitution. However, the percentage for women and men was determined and clarified differently in the electoral laws. The determined percentage was about the political developments in 2011.”

“Women played an important role in the revolution”

Abeer Amneina talked about women’s participation in politics after the 2011 revolution; “Women played an important role in the revolution. At that time, political parties understood that women should be on their lists, women should be at the top of the lists. Women hold at least 15.5 percent of the seats in the parliament now. But this is a very low percentage. For this reason, 30% of parliamentary seats should be reserved for women. This is very important for their presence in parliament.”