Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07YEREVAN256
2007-03-06 11:29:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Yerevan
Cable title:
ELECTIONS LIKELY TO BRING A SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE
how-toVZCZCXRO6803 RR RUEHDBU RUEHLN RUEHVK RUEHYG DE RUEHYE #0256 0651129 ZNR UUUUU ZZH R 061129Z MAR 07 FM AMEMBASSY YEREVAN TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5029 INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORP RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 0273
UNCLAS YEREVAN 000256
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR EUR/CARC
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KWMN KDEM AM
SUBJECT: ELECTIONS LIKELY TO BRING A SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE
IN WOMEN MPS, FROM A LOW BASE
REF: A) 06 YEREVAN 1364 B) 06 YEREVAN 946
This cable is sensitive but unclassified. Please protect
accordingly.
UNCLAS YEREVAN 000256
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR EUR/CARC
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KWMN KDEM AM
SUBJECT: ELECTIONS LIKELY TO BRING A SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE
IN WOMEN MPS, FROM A LOW BASE
REF: A) 06 YEREVAN 1364 B) 06 YEREVAN 946
This cable is sensitive but unclassified. Please protect
accordingly.
1. (SBU) One relative bright spot on the political stage when
party lists were released March 1: the potential for a
100-percent increase in the number of parliamentary seats
held by women. A National Democratic Institute (NDI)
analysis of the lists shows that women make up an average of
22 percent of each party's proportional list. This is less
than the 25 percent that NDI-sponsored women's forum
(reftels) had been pushing, but it is much better than the 15
percent required by law. Several parties also placed women
in higher positions on their party lists than had been done
in the past, though less than the women's forum had
requested. NDI staff estimate that, once the dust settles
after May 12, women will likely occupy 12 to 14 parliamentary
seats. They currently hold seven of 131 seats.
2. (SBU) NDI program director Taline Sanassarian
characterized the analysis of the party lists as "cautiously
good news." She and her staff noted that women who occupy
high slots on a given party's list have in the past opted not
to accept their seats, ceding them to the next name on the
list -- more often than not a man. For that reason, she said
it would be important for NDI and the other organizations
involved in the women's forum to keep up the pressure on
parties to follow through.
3. (SBU) COMMENT: The number of women on the party lists does
represent a step forward, but it is one that was not at all
difficult for the parties to take. Women have historically
occupied such an embarrassingly low number of seats, that it
would be difficult for the situation to worsen. Particularly
in the cases of parties that stand little chance of winning
any seats at all, putting women on high on the lists may be
an easy way to win plaudits from international observers.
GODFREY
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR EUR/CARC
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KWMN KDEM AM
SUBJECT: ELECTIONS LIKELY TO BRING A SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE
IN WOMEN MPS, FROM A LOW BASE
REF: A) 06 YEREVAN 1364 B) 06 YEREVAN 946
This cable is sensitive but unclassified. Please protect
accordingly.
1. (SBU) One relative bright spot on the political stage when
party lists were released March 1: the potential for a
100-percent increase in the number of parliamentary seats
held by women. A National Democratic Institute (NDI)
analysis of the lists shows that women make up an average of
22 percent of each party's proportional list. This is less
than the 25 percent that NDI-sponsored women's forum
(reftels) had been pushing, but it is much better than the 15
percent required by law. Several parties also placed women
in higher positions on their party lists than had been done
in the past, though less than the women's forum had
requested. NDI staff estimate that, once the dust settles
after May 12, women will likely occupy 12 to 14 parliamentary
seats. They currently hold seven of 131 seats.
2. (SBU) NDI program director Taline Sanassarian
characterized the analysis of the party lists as "cautiously
good news." She and her staff noted that women who occupy
high slots on a given party's list have in the past opted not
to accept their seats, ceding them to the next name on the
list -- more often than not a man. For that reason, she said
it would be important for NDI and the other organizations
involved in the women's forum to keep up the pressure on
parties to follow through.
3. (SBU) COMMENT: The number of women on the party lists does
represent a step forward, but it is one that was not at all
difficult for the parties to take. Women have historically
occupied such an embarrassingly low number of seats, that it
would be difficult for the situation to worsen. Particularly
in the cases of parties that stand little chance of winning
any seats at all, putting women on high on the lists may be
an easy way to win plaudits from international observers.
GODFREY