NEA head urges women to take part in next election

CAIRO – 7 March 2018: Head of the National Election Authority (NEA) Ibrahim Lasheen called on Egyptian women on Wednesday to take part in the upcoming presidential election scheduled to take place on March 26.

During his visit to the National Council for Women (NCW) on Wednesday, Lasheen said, “We are looking forward to more bestowals from women in the next election. Come on girls to polls and vote.”

“Let’s make the next election a national epic; let’s all cast our votes to draw Egypt’s future,” Lasheen said.

The NCW held a seminar on Wednesday about the NEA’s plan to observe the next presidential election, attended by NCW head Maya Morsi, Lasheen and other members of the NEA, and other political figures.

Maya Morsi expressed her warm welcome to the NEA guests, appreciating their visit, which coincided with Women’s Day, showing the authority’s appreciation for women’s role at a critical time in the nation’s history.

Morsi stressed that the political awareness of Egyptian women has been developed, as well as the role she plays, and politics and the community in general, out of their love for their homeland.

“Women represent 49 percent of the electoral bloc in Egypt. In the constitutional referendum in 2014, it reached 55 percent, and in the presidential election in 2014 it was 55 percent,” Morsi said, indicating the great role women play in the democratic process.

The head of NCW pointed out that Egypt has rooted the citizenship principle in the 2014 constitution by highlighting gender equality in 21 of its articles, especially Article 11, which states, “The state commits to achieving equality between women and men in all civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights in accordance with the provisions of this constitution.”

“The Egyptian woman has made progress throughout the past four years, as 20 percent of ministers are females; she held the post of national security advisor to the president for the first time, became governor and secretary general of the central bank, and 66 women are now judges,” Morsi said during the seminar.

On the political level, Egyptian women hold 90 seats of the current parliament, according to Morsi.

President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi pays special attention to women’s cases. He proclaimed 2017 as the Year of Women, and he always addresses women in his speeches and praises their role in society.