T

he West Sumatra chapter of the Indonesian Womens'€™ Coalition (KPI) is encouraging women to run for office and for political parties to accommodate them in the province'€™s planned December elections for regents and mayors.

The coalition'€™s secretary, Tanty Herida, said Sunday that to encourage women to become heads of regional administrations in the province, the KPI would use the momentum of the election for governor slated for December, which would also be simultaneously held with regency and mayoral elections in 13 regions in the province.

Tanty criticized political parties in West Sumatra and on the national level for their halfhearted efforts to name women as candidates in regional elections, the result of which is that no female leaders have so far emerged in the province.

'€œWe hope political party leaders will change their paradigm immediately,'€ said Tanty, adding that the KPI has a list of women'€™s names to be offered to political parties as candidates for regional leadership positions in the upcoming elections.

Among the names in the list were Dewi Fortuna Anwar and Emma Yohana, who would be offered as deputy governor candidates, Siti Izzati Azis, as a candidate to be the Padang Pariaman deputy regent, and Armiati, as an Agam deputy regent candidate. The KPI was still deliberating other names, according to Tanty.

'€œWhy do we only propose them as deputy candidates? Because based on our calculations, it is still difficult for women to run straight for the governor or regent posts, especially considering the lack of support from the political parties and funding,'€ she said.

She said the KPI had held informal talks with the Padang Pariaman chapters of the National Democratic (Nasdem) Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

'€œIf the parties accept their candidacies, we are optimistic they have good chances to win,'€ said Tanty.

Tanty said the KPI was ready to help prepare the candidates with input and monitoring of the vote count.

Dewi Fortuna Anwar is a professor in politics at the University of Indonesia (UI) and currently works at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Jakarta. Both her parents are from West Sumatra.

Emma Yohana, a businesswoman, is currently a member of the Regional Representative Council (DPD) representing the West Sumatra electoral district. She once ran as a candidate in a Padang mayoral election, but was defeated by incumbent Mahyeldi Ansharullah.

Siti Izzati Azis is a Golkar Party provincial councilor, while Armiati is a Hanura Party provincial councilor. They are two out of only six female councilors in the West Sumatra legislative council.

Emma expressed hope that West Sumatran women would have the guts to run in a regional leader'€™s race and not be discouraged if many of them lose their battles.

'€œThe main challenge is in the political parties,'€ she said, adding that running without a political party was difficult because of the short time to prepare.

She also expressed hope that political parties should really be interested in nominating female candidates, arguing that West Sumatra had plenty of women deserving to fill the post of a regional head.

'€œTheir [political party leaders'€™]trust [in female candidates] is still in question,'€ Emma said.

No woman has ever held the governor'€™s post in West Sumatra ever since the position was made available in 1958. All of the province'€™s governors, including the ninth incumbent, Irwan Prayitno, have been men.

Similarly, the regency and mayoral posts throughout West Sumatra'€™s 19 regencies and cities have never been held by women, despite the province being the homeland of the Minang ethnic group, one of the largest matrilineal societies in the world.