Marking Tunisian Women's Election Achievements for a Democratic Future

Media Release

30 March 2015

Marking Tunisian Women’s Election Achievements for a Democratic Future

Gender Election Monitoring Mission Final Report is presented at Tunis Event

Mr. Chafik Sarsar, President of ISIE, and Ms. Sabra Bano, Director of Gender Concerns (center) with panel members at the event

The Final Report of the Gender Election Monitoring (GEM) Mission Tunisia 2014 was presented on Friday 27 March by the Head of Mission, Ms. Sabra Bano, at an event at the El Mechtel Hotel in Tunis. The event marked the successful completion of the mission and featured Mr. Chafik Sarsar, President of the Tunisian Independent High Authority for the Elections (ISIE), in a panel discussion on Towards Parity in Electoral Reforms and Female Leadership with panellists from partner organisations LTDH, ATFD and AFTURD.  Mr. Sarsar noted that women were active in the Tunisia elections in capacities that included administration staff, activists and as voters. He and the panel continued with a discussion of progress and challenges that affect women’s electoral participation.

Head of Mission Ms. Sabra Bano, said: “Tunisian women took historic action to influence these elections, and we look forward to further interaction with ISIE, our partners and supporters in helping enable further progress of this gender-equal democracy. Our mission Final Report aims to raise more international awareness and engagement for Tunisian women’s key roles as leaders, voters and administration officials in inclusive democratic processes”.

This GEM mission – supported by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs – was the largest international observation mission for the 2014 parliamentary and presidential elections. The initiative was a partnership of Gender Concerns International and three prominent Tunisian civil society organisations: Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LTDH); Tunisian Association of Democratic Women (ATFD); and Association of Tunisian Women for Research and Development (AFTURD).

Download the GEM Tunisia 2014 Final Report:

For more information: 

Matt Luna, Program Outreach & Management 

matt@genderconcerns.org 

www.genderconcerns.org

Raamweg 21-22, 2596 HL Den Haag, the Netherlands

Telephone: +31 (0) 70 444 5082