The meeting was attended by United Nations (UN) Electoral Needs Assessment Mission (NAM), and primarily focused on bringing Election Commission of Pakistan and NADRA on board with the Commission to ensure maximum women’s political participation in the upcoming elections. Ms Nilofar Bakhtiar highlighted that National Commission for the Status of Women (NCSW) is aiming for a three-tiered approach. The first and the foremost will be advocating for direct elections for females so that they are free from party politics. Secondly, the Chairperson discussed with the UNDP team how Pakistani women in many areas of Pakistan are still prevented from voting and thus voting rights need to be the prime focus. Lastly, role of NADRA and ECP in ensuring women voting registrations was discussed at large. During the meeting, Ms Nilofar said, “Only when the Commission, ECP and NADRA work together, we can aim for increased representation of women on all political forums, starting from local to provincial and ultimately to the National level.” The meeting ended on a positive note and promise of full cooperation of UNDP in achieving these objectives.
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