Parliament speaker: Women’s role in Armenia’s political and social life grows year by year
An Armenian delegation led by Speaker of the National Assembly Ara Babloyan on Thursday took part in the conference of the speakers of La Francophonie parliaments in Quebec, Canada.
Speaker Babloyan delivered remarks at the conference on the topic of “How to improve public engagement in La Francophonie Parliaments”.
“Armenia is proud of belonging to the Francophone big family, with which it shares the values of humanity and solidarity.
We support the steps taken by the Francophonie member states which are aimed at protecting human rights, ensuring equality between women and men, preserving fundamental democratic values and increasing the young people's role.
Women's role in almost all sectors of Armenia’s political and social life grows year by year. The Electoral Code adopted on May 25, 2016 clearly states that at least one woman should be included in each five of the proportional lists of the all political parties or allies taking part in the parliamentary elections, as a result of which, the women's involvement in the parliament is significant. 18 out of 105 MPs of the Armenian parliament are women who are actively taking part in all parliamentary discussions.
One of the three Vice Speakers of the National Assembly is female, who is also the head of the Armenian delegation to PACE and has previously served as Armenia’s justice minister.
The Electoral Code enables the national minorities living in Armenia to be represented in the parliament. Four representatives of the national minorities received a parliamentary mandate at the sixth convocation of the National Assembly. The representative of the Kurdish community presided over the first session of the first sitting of the parliament.
La Francophonie is a special platform of cooperation for the Armenian youth. La Francophonie world, highly appreciating the role and significance of the youth, tries to promote and support their initiatives with all means possible,” the speaker said in his speech.
The delegation also took part in a joint working meeting of the speakers and secretaries general of La Francophonie parliaments.