Lebanon

While Lebanon suffers from a paucity of female politicians, establishing a quota is not the only way to bolster women’s participation in the political sphere, say members of UNDP’s Lebanese Electoral Assistance Program.

Parties from all across the political spectrum acknowledge the need to include more women in Lebanese politics, but agreeing what steps to take toward that end have proved more difficult said Richard Chambers, the Chief Technical Adviser at LEAP.

On 3 July, the UNDP Lebanese Elections Assistance Programme (LEAP) organized the EU-funded workshop “Electoral Systems and Women’s Participation” in Beirut -where local candidates, activists and members from the international community came together to discuss how different electoral systems may facilitate greater participation by women in the upcoming Lebanese elections.