From Sardar Shahab
LONDON: In a rather unconventional development, over 1,000 female candidates will take part in the upcoming general elections in the United Kingdom, scheduled to be held on Dec 12.
According to the data shared by the electoral commission, the total number of candidates vying for seats in the House of Commons, the Lower House of Parliament, is more than 3,300. Out of the 3,300, 34 per cent are female candidates.
As many as 23 candidates are of Pakistan/Kashmir-origin. Interestingly, the Labour Party has created history by fielding the most number of female candidates. Some 631 individuals will be fighting in the polls on Labour and Co-operative Party tickets and out of those 333 are female candidates. The women outnumber the men, claim reports. Labour had also fielded the highest number of female candidates in 2017, with a total number of 256 female candidates, which made up 41 per cent of the total number.
Nine female candidates of Pakistani origin are vying for a parliamentary seat on a Labour Party ticket. Three out of the nine – Shabana Mahmood, Yasmin Qureshi and Naz Shah – were members of the last two Parliaments. The Conservative Party has fielded 635 candidates in the upcoming polls and out of those only 190 are female candidates, which makes up 30 per cent of the total candidates.
This is also a record number of female candidates put forward by the party. In the last two elections, the proportion of the Conservative Party’s female candidates stood at 26% and 29%.
Five women of Pakistani origin are vying for a parliamentary seat on a Conservative Party ticket. However, only one of them, Nusrat Ghani, has been elected twice. She also served as minister of transport in the last two cabinets.
The Liberal Democrats have fielded 611 candidates in the upcoming polls and out of the 188 are female candidates. Six female candidates of Pakistani origin are contesting the polls on a Liberal Democrat ticket and none of them have been elected before.
