Enhancing The Role of Women UNDP-Yemen Electoral Support Programme Global Practice Meeting on Electoral Systems and Processes Manila, Philippines October 2004

Background  1990: Unification  1993, 1997, 2003: Three multi-party Parliamentary elections  1999: First Presidential elections  2001: Local Council elections  2001: Establishment of the Supreme Commission for Elections and Referenda (SCER)  2006: Local Councils and Presidential

UN Assistance  UN Electoral Assistance in Yemen: –1997 Parliamentary –1999 Presidential –2001 Local Councils  2003: UNDP/UN Support to 2003 Parliamentary elections  : UNDP support to local councils and Presidential elections 2006

Strategic Areas of Support  Electoral Administration  Voter Registration Process  Decentralization Process of the SCER (333 Districts and 22 governorates)  Training of Registration Workers and Polling Station Officials  Voter Education Campaign

Women Voters Total population estimated at 18 million in 2000 (Yemen MDGR pdf) 2.pdf Registered Voters 62% of 5.6 ml. 76% of 8 ml. Women voters total 42% of electorate 1.7 million (30%) 3.4 million (41%) (74.4% of reg. female voters)

C hallenges of Voters Education Campaigns  Gender Disparity –Registered voters –Women’s participation  Illiteracy Rate NHDR (2000) - yemen.org/dsp/humandev.htm yemen.org/dsp/humandev.htm –Adult illiteracy: 47.3% –Female illiteracy: 61.5%

Voters Education: Means and Channels  Involve Civil Society (not political parties) to conduct civic and voter education activities;  Publications, printed material, banners, Large scale advertising even on “dabbabs”;  SMS messaging

 Info tent: Special times/days were allocated exclusively for women Voters Education: Means and Channels

 Mobile Van: Were mounted with special panels depicting on one side a woman voting and on the other side a man;  TV: One programme was customized for targeting women Voters Education: Means and Channels

Women as Candidates  Only 10 Women candidates out of 1, 393  Out of 22 political parties only 4 put forward female candidates  Of the 9 members of SCER – none are women  Of 60 supervisory committees, none had women  Of the 19 trainers, none were women  Out of 31 Basic Committees, 3 are women  Women were present at the level of sub- committees - Segregation requires female registration and election committees

Developments for 2006 Elections  A new Department for women’s issues is being established in the SCER  The quota proposal was developed by SCER in collaboration with political parties and the assistance of NDI - decree is submitted to Parliament for approval

L essons learned from Phase I  Voter Education efforts must link women’s participation with religious instructions in order to counter unsubstantiated claims that female are banned from political participation by religion;  More understanding of women’s rights;  Further Capacity building of Yemeni NGOs  Involvement of Political Parties

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