Political Parties

The result of the federal election was shocking but it wasn’t surprising.

It was a resounding message from voters – and we would be foolish not to listen.

The truth is, the Liberal party didn’t lose because of campaign tactics or some leadership missteps alone. We lost because our policies failed to resonate. And they failed to resonate because, too often, they were built without the input of the very Australians we needed to win over – women, young people, multicultural communities and urban voters.

Too many of our policies seemed disconnected from the daily realities of modern Australia. The cost of living, housing, secure jobs, climate and education are dominating the concerns of millions – yet when asked how we’d address them we gave voters little reason to believe we understood the scale of the problem, let alone have credible answers.

The Liberal party’s massive defeat leaves it in dire straits. Where to from here?

To chart a credible path forward, we must return to first principles. The Liberal party was once defined by its broad reach – a party of the “forgotten people”, where aspiration met compassion and economic freedom was balanced by social responsibility. That legacy, championed by the party founder Robert Menzies, meant putting the concerns of ordinary Australians at the centre of political life.

Full article here published by The Guardian.

Image source: The Guardian

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party strongly disagreed with the Constitutional Reform Commission on its proposal for a quota of 10 per cent parliamentary seats for young candidates.

The Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami rather preferred emphasis on nominating young candidates but disagreed to the proposed quota.

On the other hand, the newly floated National Citizen Party favoured the quota, with the recommendation that 35 years should be the maximum age for the eligibility of youth under the quota system.

In response to the National Consensus Commission’s 166-point questionnaire on key reforms, the youth-dominated NCP also proposed lowering the voter age from 18 to 16.

At the same time, it opposed reducing the minimum age for a parliamentary candidate from 25 to 21, as suggested in the reform proposals.

The BNP, in its feedback to the NCC, wrote the party disagrees to the youth quota as it considers the nomination of candidates is a matter of a political party’s policy and, therefore, imposing any constitutional obligation regarding quota is inappropriate.

Avoiding giving any specific opinion about the proposed 10 per cent quota, the Jammat wrote that nominating candidates from among the youth should be emphasised.

During their dialogues with the NCC, several other political parties also opposed the youth quota in the parliament.

Nagarik Oikya presidium member Zinnur Chowdhury Dipu and Rashtra Sangskar Andolan organiser Syed Hasibuddin Hossen told New Age that their parties, too, disagree to the option for the 10 per cent youth quota.

Hasibuddin, however, said his party does not discourage young candidates to contest in the parliamentary elections.

Read here the full article published by New Age on 14 April 2025.

Image by New Age

This story was originally published by The 19th. 

State legislatures craft most of the laws passed in the United States and serve as the main pipeline for higher office. But sexual harassment in state politics “remains a systemic and ongoing issue affecting both parties,” according to a recent report from the nonpartisan National Women’s Defense League (NWDL), first shared with The 19th.

“Our latest research reinforces what we already knew: the problem of sexual harassment in statehouses is pervasive, damaging and covered up,” said Emma Davidson Tribbs, the NWDL’s co-founder and director. “These abuses of power that not only inflict trauma, but impede policy making, waste taxpayer resources, and disproportionately impact the leadership of women and minorities in government.”

NWDL published its inaugural report, “Abuse of Power: Uncovering a Decade of Sexual Harassment in State Government,” which tracked allegations over a 10-year period beginning in 2013, in November 2023. The updated report, released earlier this month, identified 400 allegations of sexual harassment against 145 sitting state lawmakers between 2013 and 2024. The report tracked 11 new public allegations against lawmakers in 10 states in 2024 and included four allegations inadvertently omitted from the 2023 report. The number of actual incidents is likely three times higher due to underreporting, the report said.

Public allegations of sexual misconduct against state lawmakers peaked at the height of the #MeToo movement in 2017 and 2018, leading to new protections and policy changes in some states. NWDL was founded in 2022 to track, research and develop solutions to the pervasive problem of sexual misconduct in the halls of power.

There are over 7,300 state lawmakers serving in 99 state legislative chambers throughout the United States. State legislatures are largely self-governing bodies, and even after a spate of post-#MeToo reforms, many lawmakers surveyed said the mechanisms for reporting misconduct in their states are lacking.

Read here the full article published by Stateline on 27 March 2025.

Image by Stateline

Issues Surrounding the Quota System in Local Taiwan Government

Days before the second session of the 11^th Legislative Yuan (立法院) came to a close, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP, 民進黨) lawmaker Fan Yun (范雲) drew attention to the role of women in Taiwan politics when she called upon both women’s groups and fellow legislators to enact changes to Taiwan’s Local Government Act (地方制度法). The request was that the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee (內政委員會)—which is tasked with monitoring administration policies of the legislative and executive bodies—propose amendments that would raise the existing male-to-female ratio within municipal elected bodies from 1:4 to 1:3. (Article 33 of the Act currently calls for a woman representative or councilor for every four seats in special municipalities, counties, cities, and townships, but no clear formula if there are fewer than four seats.) 

The Act, which was last amended in 1999, was forward-thinking at the time. However, as Fan Yun pointed out, the law didn’t guarantee the presence of women in smaller municipal or local councils which hold fewer elected seats, and this has translated into all-male representation in local governments. Radio Taiwan International reports that as many as 40 constituencies in 135 council districts have no women in office. Because of this, amendments to the Act would bring a better gender balance to Taiwan’s governing bodies—one that is already reflected among representatives from Taiwan’s urban centers. 

Kaohsiung City Councillor Cherry Tang (湯詠瑜) has commented that, “The quota system has been instrumental in securing the presence and representation of female voices in politics over time, [and] I think it has led to a significant increase in female representation. For example, [and] according to my understanding, in the central level, Legislative Yuan, women currently make up around 40 percent of the members… I think these figures reflect the positive impact of [the] quota system in paving the way for women to participate actively in [the] decision making process.” [1]

That a gender divide exists between male and female politicians here in Taiwan might come as a surprise—even to those who follow Taiwan politics closely. After all, Taiwan did have Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who served two terms as president from 2016 to 2024. Its electorate has also chosen two women to serve as vice president: Annette Lu Hsiu-lien (呂秀蓮) from 2000-2004, and Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), elected in 2024. Further, as of January 2024, 47 out of 113 elected members in parliament—or about 41.59 percent—are women. Hsiao has since called for that figure to rise to 50 percent.

Click here to read the full article published by the Global Taiwan Institute on 19 February 2025.

Image by Global Taiwan Institute

Senior journalist Asma Shirazi on Sunday denounced a persistent harassment campaign targeting her and other female journalists, saying “enough is enough”, as prominent media figures endorsed a petition by the Digital Rights Foundation (DRF) calling for an end to organised harassment by political parties.

The petition has so far been signed by over 60 figures in print, television, and digital media.

Speaking to Dawn.com, Shirazi said that political parties have executed targeted harassment campaigns against female journalists for some time now, stating that the petition by the DRF showed that these campaigns will no longer be tolerated.

“I have been made a target several times,” she said. “I’m made a subject of discussion to intimidate and threaten others.”

Read here the full article published by The Dawn on 12 January 2025.

Image by The Dawn

Malta leads the EU in disagreeing that measures such as the gender quota system can solve the underrepresentation of women in politics, despite having a gender quota system itself.

This emerged from a Eurobarometer survey on gender stereotypes, which asked if “temporary measures (eg quotas) are necessary to overcome the existing underrepresentation of women in politics”.

At 62 per cent, Maltese respondents registered the highest disagreement with the statement, significantly above the EU average of 36 per cent.

Just over a third of Maltese respondents agreed with this statement, below the EU average of 55 per cent.

Malta is one of 13 countries in the EU with systems to try to ensure gender balance within national elections. The results of the study could suggest Maltese citizens are unsatisfied with its system, which has been in place since 2021.

Read here the full article published by the Times of Malta on 18 December 2024.

Image by the Times of Malta